


. / 















HISTORY 



OF THE 



T 



I HIRTY-1N I NTH 



N 



C 



ONGRESS 



OF THE 



UNITED STATES. 



£- 



By William ft. (Barnes, A. /VL 

Author of "The Body Politic. ' 



LIBERTY, LOYALTY AND LAW. 





INDIANAPOLIS, I N D . : 

MACAULEY & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. 

1867. 



•C 



Entered, according to A.c( of Congress, in the year 1867. by 

M Ai'Al'LKV dk COMPANY, 

In the Clerk'a Ofnce of the District Court of states, lor ihe l 1 

of Indiana. 



STEREOTYPED AT THE FBAMiLIS 11 !•] ! IVKOB ■■■.ill. 



PREFACE 



THE history of the Thirty-ninth Congress is a sequel to that of 
the rebellion. This having been overthrown, it remained for 
Congress to administer upon its effects. It depended upon the 
decisions of Congress whether the expected results of our victories 
on the battle-held should be realized or lost. 

As the work of the Thirty-ninth Congress stands forth complete, 
it challenges the admiration of mankind. People naturally desire 
to know something more of the manner in which the rough material 
was shaped into order, and the workmanship by which the whole 
was " fitly joined together." It can not be said of this fabric of 
legislation that it went up without " the sound of the hammer." 
The rap of the gavel was often heard enforcing order or terminating 
the exuberant flow of forensic eloquence. The latter use of the 
hammer, however, pertained to the House of Representatives, and 
not to the Senate. The former body many years ago adopted the 
"Hour Rule" and the "Previous Question" for the due limitation 
of debate, while the latter place no restriction upon their enjoy- 
ment of the luxury of .speech, although, with some rare exceptions, 
they use it with moderation. 

Discussion is the process by which results in legislation are 
achieved, hence no history of legislation would be complete without 
presenting the progress of debate preparatory to the adoption of im- 
portant measures. The explanation of what our legislators did, fta 
detailed in the following pages, is found in the presentation of what 
they said. Debates, as presented in the following pages, are by 
necessity much abridged. No attempt has been made to give a 
summary or synopsis of speeches. That which seemed to be the most 
striking or characteristic passage in a speech has been given, in the 
exact words used by the orator. 

A thousand things said and done are, of course, omitted— many 
things good in themselves and of consequence to the nation. The 

(3) 



I PREFACE. 



-r 



following pages are principally occupied with those subjects which 

to the nation and importance to the race. When 

lings apparently trivial, it has been with a view 

lable the reader to form a more correct estimate of characters 

and circumstances. 

In forming his opinion of Congressional ability and character, 

I t will bear In mind that tho.se who say the tnosl are not always 

nosl useful legislators. Men from whom no quotation is made, 

and to whom no measure is attributed in the following ; may 

be among the foremost in watchfulness for their constituents, and 

faithfulness to the country. 

If ii should seem that one subject — the negro question — occupied 
t >o much of the time and attention of Congress, it must be borne 
in mind that this subject was thrust upon Congress and the country 
by the issue, of the rebellion, and must be definitely and finally 
settled before the country could be at rest. "Unsettled questions 
have no pity on the repose of mankind." 

No attempt lias been made to give a diary of Congress containing 
a detail of what was said and done from day to day in the Senate 
and the Bouse. There has always been some great topic under 
delation, forming an uninterrupted series of discussions and 
transaction. To present these in review is to give a history of the 
Thirty-ninth Congress, since they distinguish it from all its prede- 
»re, and make it historical. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I.— Opening Scenes. 

(Page 13-21.) 

Momentous Events of the Vacation — Opening of the Senate — Mr. 
Wade — Mr. Sumner — Mr. Wilson — Mr. Hakims — Edward MgPherson — 
As Clerk of the preceding Congress, he calls the House to order — 
Interruption of Roll-call by Mr. Matnard — Remarks by Mr. Brooks — 

His Colloquy with Mr. Stevens — Mr. Colfax elected Speaker — Ms 
Inaugural Address — The Test Oath. 



CHAPTER II. — Locations op the Members and Cast of the 

Committees. 

(Page 22-32.) 

Importance of surroundings — Members sometimes referred to by their 
seats — Senator Andrew Johnson — Seating of the Senators — Drawing 
in the House — The Senate Chamber as seen from the Gallery— D - 
tinguished Senators — The House of Representatites — Some prominent 
characters— Importance of Committees — Difficulty in their appoint- 
ment — Important Senate Committees — Committees of the House. 



CHAPTER III. — Formation op the Joint Committee on 

Ukconstruction. 

(Page 33-49.) 

Lack of Excitement — Cause — The Resolution — Dilatory Motions — Teas 
and Nays — PROPOSED Amendments in the Senate — Debate in the Sen- 
ate—Mr. Howard— Mr. Anthony — Mi;. Doolittle — Mr. Fessenden — 
Mr. Saulsbury— Mr. Hendricks Mr. Trumbull— Mr. Guthrie— Pas- 
sage OF the Resolution in the Senate — Yeas and Nays — Remakes of 
Mr. Stevens on the Amendment of the Senate — Concurrence of thk 
House — The Committee appointed. 

(5) 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER [V. — Suffrage in the District of Columbia. 

Page 50-84.) 

|. i 5S TO 1 EG 51 ■ • FOB 1 HE DISTRICT lUIA — S 

Bill in d into the Hoi S eech by Mr. Wilson — Mr. Boyer— 

i : : .!.i —Mr. Kelly — Mr. Rogers — Mr Fabnsworth— Mr Davis 

— Mr Chanleb — Mr Bingham— Mr Grinnell — Mr Kasson— Mr Jtr- 
llan -Mr Thomas — Mr Darling — Mr Hale's Amendment Mr Thayer 
— Mr. Van Horn— Mr Clarke— Mr Johnson — Mr. Boutwell. 



( HAPTER V.— The Freedmen. 

(Page 95-103.) 

\ oi the Freedmen— Committee in the House— Early Movb- 

■ i it by the Senate in behalf of Freedmen — Senator Wilson's Bill — ■ 
n [0N pon IT — Mr. Cowan moves its reference — Mr. Rkverdy John- 

ITISES DELIBERATION— A QUESTION OF TIME WITH M K. SHERMAN — Mr. 

Tri A MORE EFFICIENT BILL — Ml:. SUMNER PRESENTS PROOF 

CONDITION OF AFFAIRS IN THE SOUTH — Mlt. COWAN AND Mk. 

Stewart produce the President as a witness for the dkfkn.sk — Mr. 
wll n the testimony — "conservatism" — the hill absorbed in 

ISURES. 

CHAPTER VI.— The Freedmen's Bureau Bill in the Senate. 

(Page 104-137.) 

The Bill introduced \ni> referred to Judiciary Committee— Its provis- 
— Argument of Mr. Hendricks against it — Replj of Mr. Trumbull 
— Mp. Cowan's Amendment — Mr. Guthrie wishes to relieve Kentucky 
i i Tin. operation of the bill — Mr. Creswell desires that Maryi 

. roY the benefits of the bill — Mr. Cowan's Gratitude to God and 

1NDSHIP FOR THE NEGRO— REMARKS n\ Mr WlLSON — " The SHORT I 

•iii speech" — Ykas and Nays— Insulting title. 



CHAPTER VII. -The Freedmen's Bureau Bill in the House 

I'm ;e I • 1ST.) 

The Hill Reported to thi House— Mr Eliot's Speech— History — Mr. 
D . .-. rm Segro— Mr. Garfield— The Idol broken— Mr Taylor 
i i Me Donnelly's Amendment Mr Kerr Mb Mar- 
on White Slavery— Mb Hubbard- Mb Moulton -osmoN 
prom Kentucky— Mr. Rittbb Mr. Rossbau's Threat— Mb Shanklin's 

i! m> Prospect— Mr Trimble's Appeal- Mb McKee in bxi ionai 

Kbntuokian Mr, Grinnkli on Kentucky— The Example of Russia — 
Mb Phelps — Mr Shell abaroer's Amendment Mr Ch.vnler — Ms, 
Sti dments -Mb Eliot closes ras Discussion- -P ieofthb 

Bn l— Yeas lnd N 



CONTENTS. 7 

CHAPTER VIII.— The Senate and the Veto Message. 

(Page 158-187.) 
Mr. Trumbull on the Amendments of the House — Mi;. Guthrie exhibits 
feeling— Mr. Sherman's deliberate Conclusion— Mr. Henderson's sov- 
breion remedy— mr. trumbull on 1' ati. nt medicines — ml!. mcdougall a 
white man — Mr. Reverdy Johnson on the power to pass the Bill — Con- 
currence of the Hoi se — The Veto Message — Mr. Lank, of Kansas — His 
efforts for delay— Mr. Garrett Davis— Mr. Trumbull's reply to the 
President — The question taken — Yeas and Nays — Failure of passage. 



CHAPTER IX.— The Civil Rights Bill in the Senate. 

(Page 188-219.) 
Duty of Congress conseqi bnt upon the Abolition of Slavery — Civil Rights 
Bill introduced — Reference to Judiciary Committee- — Before the Sen- 

aT1: Speech by Mr. Trumbull — Mr. Saulsbury — Mr. Van Winkle — Mr. 

Cowan— Mr. Howard— Mk. Johnson— Mr. Davis— Conversations with 
Mr. Trumbull and Mr. Clark — Reply ok Mr. Johnson — Remarks by Mr. 
Morrill— Mr. Davis "wound up"— Mr. Uuthrie s Speech— Mr. Hen- 
dricks— Reply of Mr. Lane— Mr. Wilson — Mr. Trumbull's closing re- 
marks— Yeas and Nays on the passage of the Bill. 



CHAPTER X.— The Civil Rights Bill in the House of 

Representatives. 

(Page 220-244.) 
The Bill referred to the Judiciary Committee and reported hack — 
Speech by the Chairman of the Committee— Mr. Rogers — Mr. Cook — 
Mr. Thayer— Mr. Ki.dridge— Mr. Thornton— Mr, Windom— Mr. Shel- 
labarger— Mr. Broomall— Mr. Raymond — Mr. Delano — Mr. Kerr — 
Amendment by Mr. Bingham — His Speech — Reply by his Colleague — 
Discussion closed by Mr. Wilson — Yeas and Nays on the passage or 
the Bill — Mr. Le Blond's proposed title — Amendments of the House 
accepted by the Senate. 



CHAPTER XL— The Civil Rights Bill and the Veto. 

(Page 245-293.) 
Doubts as to the President's Decision — Suspense ended — The Veto Mes- 
sage— Mr. Trumbull's Answer— Mr. Reverdy Johnson defends the 
Message-Rejoinder— Remarks of Mr. Yates— Mr. Cowan appeals to 
the Country— Mr. Stewart shows how States may make the Law a 
Nullity — Mr. Wade — Mr. McDougall on Persian Mythology-— Mr. J. 
11. Lane defends the President— Mr. Wade -The President's Col- 
lar — Mi:. Brown — Mr. Doolittle — Mr. Garrett Davis — Mr 
BUEY — Yeas and Nays in the Senate — Vote in the House — The Civil 
Rights Bill becomes a Law. 



8 0NTEN1 

CHAPTER XIL— The Second Freedmen's Bureau Bill 

BE( OM i - \ J, AW. 
P 

The Discovery op the Majority — The Senate Bill — The Hoi se Bill — 

Provisions — Passage of mi: B u.— Amendment ^nd Passage in the 

Senati -Committee of Conference -The Amendmi pkd 

The Bill as Passed — The Veto — The Proposition of a Democrat 

epted — ' l lder3hip — passage of the blli. over the 

ro — It Becomes a Law. 



CHAPTER XIII. — First Words on Reconstruction 

Page 307-323.) 

Responsibility of the Republican Party — Its Power and Position — Ini- 
tiatory Step — Mr. Stevens speaks for himself — Condition of the Ri 
Sta itutional Authority under which I should act — 

Estoppel — What Constitutes Congress — The First Duty — Basis of I 
resentation — Duty on Exports — Two important Principles— Mr. Ray- 
mond's Theory — Rebel States still in the Union :quences of the 
Radical Theory — Conditions to be required — 3i i S ivereignty — Rebel 
Debi — Prohibition of Slavery — Two Policies contrasted — Reply of Mr. 
Jenckes — Difference in Terms, not in Substance — Logic of the i 

SERVATIVES LEADS TO THE RESULTS OF THE RaDICAI - 



CHAPTER XIV.— The Basis of Representation in the Ho 

(Pa 

First work of the Joint Committee — The Joint Resolution propos 
Constii Amendment — Mr. Stevens' reasons i edy actu 

Pro d Discussion gommen< ibjeotioxs to the Bill by Mr. Rog- 

ers Defense by Mr. Conk ling — Two other Modes — How.'- gut 

Evade the Law— Not a Finality — Wisconsin and South Carolina — 
A . ■ bnt fi Female Si proposed — Orth on Indiana vnd Mas 

if the S n More Radical Ri esired — 

A l\ ' ITUCKIAN i.kai 'IFIED- < ', OM THE * M i PREMIUM FOR 

Treason -White Slavi ro vmend well-nigh exhausted — Ob- 

jections TO THE Si FFRAGE BASIS— "Race" AND " COLOR " AMBIGUOUS— CON- 
DITION of the Question Recommitted Final Pass 



CHAPTER XV.— The Basis of Represi m ition in the Senate. 

(Pa • ii 

The Joint Resoli hod goes to the Senate— Counter-proposition by Mr, 
Simm i; He Speaks Five Sours Mr Henderson's A ntt— Mr. 

Fi . -Mr, Henry S Lam. -Mb Johnson— Mr Henderson— Mr 



CONTENTS. 9 

Clark's Historical Statements— Fred. Douglass' Memorial— Mb V 
liams— Mr. Hendricks — Mr. Chandler's "Blood-letting Letter" 
Proposition of Mk Yates — His Speech Mr. Buckalew against New 
England— Mr. Pomeroy— Mr. Sumner's second Speech -Mr. Doolittle 

Mr, Morrill — Mr. Fessenden meets Objections — Final Vote — The 

a mendment defeated. 



CHAPTER XVI. — Representation of the Southern States. 

(Page 417-433.) 

Concurrent Resolution — A "Venomous Fight" — Passage in the House — 
The Resolution in the Senate— "A Political Wrangle" deprecated— 
Importance ok the Question — "A Straw in a Storm" — Policy oi 
President — Conversation between two Senators — Mr. Nye's Advice 
to Rebels — " A Dangerous Power" — "Was Mr. Wade once a Seces- 
sionist?"— Garrett Davi<' Programme for the President — "Us 
yet Mischievous" — The Great Question .settled. 



CHAPTER XVII. — The Reconstruction Amendment in the 

House. 

(Page 431-1.51.) 

A Constitutional Amendment proposed and postponed — Proposition by 
Mk. Stewart — The Reconstruction Amendment — Death of its Pi 
cessor lamented — Opposition to the Disfranchisement of Rebels — " 
Unkepentent Thirty-three" — Nine-tenths reduced to One-twelfth — 
Advice to Congress — The Committee denounced— Democratic and Re- 
publican Policy compared — Authority without Power — A Variet, 
Opinions — An Earthquake predicted — 'I'm-; Joint Resolution passes 
the House. 



CHAPTER XVIII. — The Reconstruction Amendment in the 

Senate. 

(Page 452-455.) 

Difference between Discussions in the House lnd in the Senate — Mr. 
Si mner proposes to rust cone — Mr. Howard takes Charge of the Amend- 
ment — Substitutes proposed — The Republicans in Council — The 
franchising Clause stricken oft — Humorous Account ry Mr. Hende 
— The Pain and Penalties of not holding Office — A Senator's Piety 
appealed to — Howe vs. Doolittle — Marketable Principles — Praise of 
the President— Mr. McDocuall's Charity— Vote of the Senate— Con- 
currence in the House. 



10 COX TEXTS. 

CHAPTER XIX. — Report of the Committee on Ri - eiuction. 

Page 166-172.) 

An important State Paper — Work of the Committee — Difficulty of 

ition— Theory or the President — Taxation and 

Representation — Disposition and doings of the Southern People — 

I LUSION OF THE < 0MM1TTEE — PRACTICAL ReCOMHENDATK 



CHAPTER XX. — Restoration of Tennessee. 

(Page 473-182.) 

sibling of the Tennessee Legislature — Ratification of the Constitu- 
tional Amendment — Restoration of Tennessee proposed in Congri 
The Government of 'I be nut Republican — Protest against the 

Preamble — Passage in the House — New Preamble proposed — The I' 

r's Opinion deprbi ited and disregarded — Passage in the Senate — 
The President's Approval and Protest — Admission of Tennessee Mem- 

— Mi:. Patters in'sC use. 



CHAPTER XXI.— Negro Suffrage. 

rage 483-501.) 

Review of the preceding action — Efforts of Mr, 5Tates for Unrestricted 
- ffrage — Davis's Amendment t<> Cuvier — The "Propitious Hour" — 
The Mayor's Remonstrance — Mr. Willey's Amendment — Mr. Cov 
Amemdment for Female Suffrage — Attempt to out-radical the I 
s — Opinions for and against Female Suffrage — Reading and Writ- 
. Qualification — Passage of the Bill — Objections of the Presi- 
- *ators on the Opinions of the People — The Suffrage 
Bill m - i I- v\v. 



CHAPTER XXII.— The Military Reconstruction Act. 

(Page 502-551.) 

!' i;. Mu. - — "Piratical ( not to be recog- 

nized — 'I'm Military Feature introduced — Mr. Schofield's Dog — The 
( is; , I ! Mr. Hisi I Ionvers itk i suction 

Member —A Mi: i U R ..- -War 

Pri The"Blai Amendment" — Bin rHE House — In the 

-Proposition to Amend— Mr. McDoi iall i I 

Speech — Mr Doolittle pleads for the Life of the > — Mr 

Sherman's Amendmeni Passage in - jatb— D s and Non- 

rHE House— The Senate unyielding — Qualified I s 
. the House — The Veto — "The Funeral of the Nation" — 
'i'ii \ S pplbmentary Legislation 



CONTENTS. 11 

CHAPTER XXIII.— Other Important Acts. 

(Page 552-560.) 

Equalizing Bounties — The Army — The Department of Education — South- 
ern Bomesteads — The Bankrupt Law — The Tariff— Reduction of Taxes 
— Contracting the Currency — Issue of Three Per Cents. — Xebraska 
and Colorado — Tenure of Office. 



CHAPTER XXIV.— The President and Congress. 

(Page 561-507.) 

The President's treatment of the South — First Annual Message — Mr. 
Sumner's Criticism — The President triumphant — He damages his Cause 
— Humor of Mr Stevens — Vetoes overridden — The Question submitted 
to the People — Their Verdict — Summary of Vetoes — Impeachment — 
Charges by Mr. Ashley — Report of the Committee. 



CHAPTER XXV.— Personal. 

(Page 568-576.) 

Contested Seats — Mr. Stockton votes for Himself — New Jersey's loss 
of two Senators — Losses of Vermont — Suicide of James H. Lane — 
Death in the House — General Scott — Lincoln's Eulogy and Statue — 
Mr. Sumner on Fine Arts in the Capitol — Censure of Mr. Chanler — 
Petition for the expulsion of Garret Davis — Grinnell assaulted by 
Rousseau — The Action of the House — Leader of the House. 



Biographical Sketches 577 



INTRODUCTORY. 



By HON. S C H U Y L E R C < > L F A X , 

SPEAKER OF THE BOUSE OF REPRESENTAT] 

ri^HE CONGRESS that has just passed away has writl 

record that will be long remembered by the poor ami fri< 
whom it did not forget. Misrepresented or misunderstoo 
those who denounced it as enemies, harshly ami unjustly 
cised by some who should have been its friends, it prov 
more faithful to human progress and liberty than any ■■:' its p 

rs. The outraged and oppressed found in thes< 
halls champions and friends. Its key-note of poli 
to the down-trodden. It quailed not before the inighties 

ected not the obscurest. It lifted the slave, whom the ua 
had freed, to the full stature of manhood. I' j>'::;.vd OH • 
Statute-book the Civil Rights l.ill a- our nation's magna charta, 
grander than all the enactments that honor the American i 
and in all the region whose civil governments had been destr 
by a vanquished rebellion, it declared as a guarai 
to the weakesl that the freeman's hand should wield the 
man's ballol ; and that none bul loyal men should govern a 
which h.yal sacrifices had saved. Taught by inspiration that 
wine could not be safely put in old bottles, it proclaimed 
there could he no sai'e or loyal reconstruction on a foundation 
unrepentant treason and disloyalty. 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 



CHAPTER I. 

OPENING SCENES. 

Momentous Events of the Vacation — Opening op the Senate — Mr. 
V.' vde — Mr Sumner — Mr. Wilson — Mr. Harris — Edward McPherson— -. 
As Clerk of the preceding Congress, he calls the House to order — 
Interruption of Roll-call by Mr. Maynard — Remarks by Mr. Brooks — 
His Colloquy with Mr. Stevens — Mr. Colfax elected Speaker — His 
I-, u .rat. Address — The Test Oath. 

THE Thirty-ninth Congress of the United States, convened 
in the Capitol at Washington on the fourth of December, 
l^<> r >. Since the adjournment of the Thirty-eighth Con- 
3S, events of the greatest moment had transpired — events 
which invested its successor with responsibilities unparalleled 
in the history of any preceding legislative body. 

Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the United States, 
lead been slain by the hand of the assassin. The crime had 
filled the land with horror. The loss of its illustrious victim 
had veiled*the nation in unaffected grief. 

By this great national calamity, Andrew Johnson, who on 
the fourth of March preceding had taken his seat simply to 
; -idc over the deliberations of the Senate, became President 
of the United States. 

Meanwhile the civil war, which had been waged with such 
terrible violence and bloodshed for four years preceding, came 
to a sudden termination. The rebel armies, under Generals 

Lee and Johnston, had surrendered to the victorious soldiers 

(13) 



14 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

of the United States, who in their generosity had granted to 
the vanquished terms so mild and easy as to excite universal 
surprise. 

Jefferson Davis, Alexander II. Stevens, and some ot 
leaders in the rebellion, had been captured and held for a ti 

State prisoners; hut, at length, all save the " President of i 
Confederate States" were released on [parole, and finally | 

doned by the President. 

The President had issued a proclamation granting amnesty 
and pardon to "all who directly or indirectly participated in 
the rebellion, with restoration of all rights of property, • 
as to slaves," <>n condition of their subscribing to a prescribed 
oath. By the provisions of this proclamation, fourteen classes 
of persons were excepted from the benefits <>f the amn< st . 
offered therein, and yet ''any person belonging to the excepted 
classes" was encouraged to make special application to 
Presidents for pardon, to whom clemency, it was declared, won 1 
" be liberally extended." In compliance with this invitati 
multitudes had obtained certificates of pardon from the Presi- 
dent, some of whom were at once elected by the Southern peoj e, 
to represent them, as Senators and Representatives, in the Thirty- 
ninth ( Jongress. 

The President had further carried on the work of reconstruc- 
tion by appointing Provisional Governors for many of the States 
lately in rebellion. He had recognized and entered into com- 
munication with the Legislatures of the-" States, prescribing 
certain terms on which they might secure representation in 
Congress, and recognition of " all their rights under the Consti- 
tution." 

By these and many other events which had transpired -'.nee 
expiration of the preceding Congress, the leg taining 

to reconstruction had become a work of vast complexity, involv- 
ing principles more profound, and questions more difficult, than 
ever before presented for the consideration and solution of ui« a 
assembled in a legislative capacity. 

At twelve o'clock on the day designated in \}\v ('onstitu. 
for the meeting of Congress, the Senate assembled, and was called 
to order by Hon. Lafayette S. Foster, President pro tempi •. 
Senators from twenty-live State- were in their seats, and answered 
to their names. Rev. E. II. Cray, Chaplain of the Senate, in- 



OPENING SCENES. 15 

voked the blessing of Almighty Cod upon Congress, and prayed 
"that all their deliberations and enactments might be such as to 
secure the Divine approval, and insure the unanimous acquies- 
cence of the people, and command the respect of the nation-: of 
the earth." 

Soon after the preliminary formalities of opening, the Senate 
had transpired, Benjamin F. Wade, Senator from Ohio, inaugu- 
rated the labors of the Thirty-ninth Congress, and significantly 
foreshadowed one of its most memorable acts by introducing "a 
bill to regulate the elective franchise in the District of Columbia." 

The Senate signified its willingness to enter at once upon active 
duty by giving unanimous consent to Mr. Sumner, Senator from 
Massachusetts, to introduce a number of important bills. The 
measures thus brought before the Senate were clearly indicative 
of the line of policy which Congress would pursue. Tin' bills 
introduced were designed " to carry out the principles of a re- 
publican form of government in the District of Columbia ;" " to 
present an oath to maintain a republican form of government in 
the rebel States;" "to enforce the amendment to the Constitution 
abolishing slavery;" "to enforce the guarantee of a republican 
form of government in certain States where governments have 
been usurped or overthrown." 

Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, was not behind his distin- 
guished colleague in his readiness to enter upon the most laborious 
legislation of the session. He introduced "a bill to maintain the 
freedom of the inhabitants in the States declared in insurrection 
by the proclamation of the President on the first of July, 1862." 

Senator Harris, of New York, long known as one of the ablest 
jurists of his State, and recently an eminent member of the S« n- 
ate's Judiciary Committee, directed attention to his favorite field 
of legislative labor by introducing "a bill to reorganize the 
Judiciary of the United States." 

While the Senate was thus actively entering upon the labors 
of the session, a somewhat different scene was transpiring in tie 
other end of the Capitol. 

Long before the hour for the assembling of Congress, the halls, 
the galleries, and corridors of the House of Representatives were 
thronged with such crowds as had never before been seen at the 
opening of a session. The absorbing interest felt throughout the 
entire country in the great questions to be decided by Congress 



THE THIRTY-.YINTH COXGh 

!•- to the ( ' every qu 

the Union. Eligible jio.-iti.pn~. usually held in r rain 

privileged or official persons, and ran mpied by a spectator, 

ow filled to their utmost capacity. The Diplomatic Gal- 
i by many unskilled in the mysteries of diplo- 
Reporters' Gallery held many listeners and loo 
who had no connection with newspapers, save i ders. 

was 1 1 « - 1 « 1 not only by the "members," who made 
the hill vocal with their greetings and congratulations, bul by a 
I of pages, office-seekers, office-holders, and unambitious 
citizen-;, who thronged over the new carpet and among the desks 

The hour having arrived for the assembling of < 
Edward McPherson, Clerk of the last House of Representatives, 
brought down the gavel on the Speaker's desk, and ••died the 
House to order. The members found their seats, and the crowd 
surged back up the aisles, and stood in a compact mass in the 
rear of the las! row of desks. 

ward McPherson, who at that moment occupied the most 
prominent and responsible place in the nation, had come to his 
tion through a scries of steps, which afforded the country an 
opportunity of knowing his material and capacity. A graduate 
of Pennsylvania College in 1848, editor, author, twice a Con- 
sman, and Clerk of the House of Representatives in the 
Thirty-eighth Congress, he had given evidence that he was 
reliable. Having shown himself a thoroughly conscientious man 
in the performance of all his public duties, the great intei 
of the nation were safe in his hands. 

The country had been greatly concerned to know how the 

Clerk would make up the Roll of the House, and whether the 

mime- of members elect from the late rebellious States would be 

called :it the opening of i! - -ion. It" this should be done, 

the fir-f step would be gained by the Representatives of those 

State- toward holding seats in Congress to which the majority 

at the North considered them not entitled. It had even been 

intimate 1 that the color of constitutionality which they would 

gain from recognition by the Clerk would he used to justify an 

rtion of their claim- by force. What the Clerk would di 

of the rolls and presiding officer of the House, was nol 

in doil 

The Clerk proceedi I all the roll of Representatives eh 



OPENING SCENES. 17 

while the subordinates at the desk took note of the responses. 
He called the names of Congressmen from the States of Maine, 
New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and so forth, in a 
certain order which had been customary time immemorial in 

naming the States. In this order Tennessee had place after 
Kentucky and before Indiana. When the name of the last 
Representative from Kentucky had been called, the decisive 
moment arrived. The delegation from Tennessee were on the 
floor, ready to answer to their names. The Clerk passed over 
Tennessee and went direct to Indiana. As soon as the first 
member from Indiana had responded, there arose a tall, black- 
haired, dark-faced figure, that every body recognized as Horace 
Maynard, of Tennessee. Me shook his certificate of election at 
the Clerk, and began to speak, but the gavel came down with a 
sharp rap. and a firm, decided voice was heard from the desk. 
"The Clerk declines to have any interruption during the call 
of the roll." The roll-call then proceeded without further inter- 
ference to the end. When, at last, the Clerk had finished his 
list of Representatives and Territorial Delegates. Mr. Maynard 
once more arose. "The Clerk can not be interrupted while 
ascertaining whether a quorum is present/' says the presiding 
officer. The count of the assistants having been completed, the 
Clerk announced, "One hundred and seventy-six members hav- 
ing answered to their names, a quorum is present." Mr. Morrill 
immediately moved that the House proceed to the election of 
S|>eaker. "Before that motion is put," said Mr. Maynard. 
again arising. The Clerk was ready for the emergency, and 
before Mr. Maynard could complete his sentence, he uttered the 
imperative and conclusive words, "The Clerk can not recognize 
as entitled to the floor any gentleman whose name is not on this 
roll." A buzz of approbation greeted the discreet riding of the 
Clerk. The difficult point was passed, and the whole subject of 
the admission of Southern Representatives was handed over 
intact, to be deliberately considered after the House should be 
fully organized for business. 

Mr. Morrill, in moving to proceed to the election of a Speaker, 
had forgotten or neglected to demand the previous question, and 
thus cut off debate. Mr. James Brooks, most plausible in address, 
and most ready in talk on the side of the minority, saw the point 
left unguarded by his opponents, and resolved to enter. Born in 
2 



18 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

Maine, now a citizen of New York, and editor of the " Expr< as," 
Mr. Brooks was in Congress for the fourth time a champion of 
uIkh he deemed the rights of the South, and not in accordance 
with the prevailing sentiments in hi- native and adopted Stati -. 
Mr. Brooks obtained the floor, and desired to amend the 
motion. He thought the mil should be completed before pro- 
ceeding tn the election of Speaker. "I trust/' said he, -that we 
shall nut proceed in any revolutionary, any step like that, without 
at least hearing from the honorable gentleman from Tenness* 
It' Tennessee is not in the Union, by what right does the Presi- 
dent of the United States usurp his place in the White House 
when an alien and a foreigner, and not from a State in the 

Union?" 

At this stage, a man of mark — five times a Representative in 
Congress, hut now twelve years away from the capital and a new 
member — lohn Wentworth, of Chicago — elevated his tall and 
massive form, and with a stentorian voice called Mr. Brooks to 
order. The Clerk having fairly decided that gentleman entitled 
to the floor on the question of proceeding to the election of a 
Speaker, Mr. Wentworth sat down, and Mr. Brooks in resuming 
his remarks improved his chance to administer rebuke in a man- 
ner which provoked some mirth. " When the honorable gentle- 
man from Illinois i s better acquainted with me in this House," 
said Mr. Brooks, "he will learn that I always proceed in order, 
and never deviate from the rules." Mr. Brooks then returned to 
his championship of Mr. Maynard: " If he is not a loyal man, 
and is not from a State in this Union, what man, then, is loyal? 
In the darkest and most doubtful period of the war, when an ex- 
ile from his own State, 1 heard his eloquent voice on the banks 
of the St. Lawrence arousing the people of my own State to dis- 
charge their duties to the country." 

Mr. Brooks joined Virginia with Tennessee, and asked the 
Clerk to give his reasons tor excluding the nam.- of Representa- 
tives from these Stat.- from the roll. The Clerk replied that he 
had acted in accordance with his views of duty, and was willing to 
let the record Btand ; it' it was the desire of the Eouse to have his 
reasons, he would give them. 

•• It is not necessary," said Thaddeus Stevens; " we know all." 

" I know," replied Mr. Brooks, "that it is known to all in one 

quarter, but that it is not known to many in other quarters in 



OPEXIXG SCENES. 19 

this House, why this exclusion has been made. I should know 
but little, if I had not the record before me of the resolution 
adopted by the Republican majority of this House, that Tennes- 
see, Louisiana, and Virginia were to be excluded, and excluded 
without debate. Why without debate? Are gentlemen afraid to 
face debate? Are their reasons of such a character that they dare 
not present them to the country, and have to resort to the extra- 
ordinary step of sideway legislation, in a private caucus, to enact 
a joint resolution to be forced upon this House without debute, 
confirming that there are no reasons whatever to support this 
position except their absolute power, and authority, and control 
over this House? If the gentleman from Pennsylvania would 
but inform me at what period he intends to press this resolution, 
I would be happy to be informed." 

" I propose to present it at the proper time," was the response 
of Mr. Stevens, provoking laughter and applause. 

Mr. Brooks replied: "Tallyrand said that language was given 
to man to conceal ideas, and we all know the gentleman's ingenu- 
ity in the use of language. The proper time ! When will that 
be?" Mr. Brooks then proceeded at some length to answer this 
question. He supposed the proper time would be as soon as the 
House was organized, and before the President's message could 
be heard and considered, that the action of the House might 
silence the Executive, and nullify the exposition which he might 
make, and become a quasi condemnation of the action of the 
President of the United States. 

Mr. Brooks was at length ready to close, and sought to yield 
the floor to a Democratic member. The Republicans, however, 
were ready to meet the emergency, and objected to the floor being 
yielded in such a way as would cause delay without furthering 
the business of organizing the House. Points of order were 
raised, and efforts made to entangle the Clerk, but in vain. His 
rulings were prompt, decisive, and effectual. The moment a Re- 
publican fairly held the floor, the previous question was moved, 
the initial contest was over, and the House proceeded to elect a 
Speaker. 

A stoop-shouldered, studious-looking gentleman, now for the 
sixth successive term a member of Congress — Justin S. Morrill, 
of Maine — arose and nominated Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana 
On the other side of the house, a gentleman from Xew York 



QO THE THIRTY- XTXTR COXGRESS 

portly in lii- person, now entering on his second Congressional 
term — Charles II. Winfield — nominated Jami ! s, of ft 

York. Four members took their seats behind the Clerk to a * 
as tellers. 'I he responses were at length all given, and tin- num- 
bers noted. Mr. Morrill, one of the tellers, announced the re- 
sult — "Mr. Colfax, one hundred and thirty-nine: Mr. Brooks, 
thirty-six." The Clerk formally announced the result, and 

pped aside; his work as presiding officer of the Thirty-ninth 
< longress \\ as at an end. 

In the place thus made vacant appeared the man l>nt a moment 
before elected to the position by the largest political majority 
ever given to a Speaker of the House. A well-proportioned 
jure <>t" medium size, a j tlcti-i n _i r »untenance often radiant with 
smiles, a style <»t" movement quick and restless, yet calm and self- 
possessed, were characteristic of him upon whom all eyes we 
turned. In the past a printer ami editor in Indiana, now in 
Congress for the sixth term, ami elected Speaker the second time, 
v > huyi.ee (oi.i'ax -fond i.i take the oath of office, and ent 
upon the discharge of most difficult ami responsible duties. II 
-aid : 

"Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: The reassem- 
bling of Congress, marking a- it does the procession of our na- 
tional history, i- always regarded with interest by the people for 
whom it i- to legislate. But it i- not unsafe to say that million- 
more than ever before, North, South, East, and West, are looking 
to the Congress which opens its session to-day with an earnest- 
ness and solicitude nnequaled on similar occasions in the pas 
The Thirty-eighth Congress closed its constitutional existcn 
with the storm-cloud of war still lowering over us, and after nine 
months' absence, Cong > -- resumes it- legislative authority in th< - 
council halls, rejoicing that from shore to shore in our land there 
i- peaee. 

" It- duties are as obvious as the *uu's pathway in the heaven-. 
Representing in its two branches the State- and the people, it- 
h'rst and highest obligation is to guarantee to every State a repub- 
lican form of government. The rebellion having overthrown 
constitutional State governments in manv State-, it i- yours to 
mature and enact legislation which, with the concurrence of the 
! ecutive, shall establish them anew on such a basis of enduring 
justice as will guarantee all vy ±\\\'r'j.\\\wi\< to the people, 



OPENING SCENES. 21 

and afford what our Magna Charta, the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, proclaims is the chief object of government — protection to 
all men in their inalienable rights. The world should witness, in 
this great work, the most inflexible fidelity, the most earnest de- 
votion to the principles of liberty and humanity, the truest patri- 
otism and the wisest statesmanship. 

" Heroic men, by hundred- of thousands, have died that the 
Republic might live. The emblems of mourning have darkened 
White House and cabin alike; but the tires of civil war have 
melted every fetter in the land, and proved the funeral pyre of 
slavery. It is for yon. Representatives, to do your work as faith- 
fully and as well as did the fearless saviors of the Union in their 
more dangerous arena of duty. Then we may hope to sec the 
vacant and once abandoned seats around us gradually filling up, 
until this hall shall contain Representatives from every State and 
district; their hearts devoted to the Union tor which they are to 
legislate, jealous of its honor, proud of its glory, watchful of its 
rights, and hostile to its enemies. And the stars on our banner, 
that paled when the States they represented arrayed themselves 
in arms against the nation, will shine with a more brilliant light 
of loyalty than ever before." 

Mr. Colfax having finished his address, took the following 
oath, which stood as the most serious obstacle in the way of many 
elected to Congress from the Southern States: 

■I 'I. solemnly swear that 1 have never voluntarily borne arm- against 
the United States since 1 have been a citizen thereof; that I have volunta- 
rily wiven no aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged 
in armed hostility thereto; that I have neither sought nor accepted hit at- 
tempted to exercise the functions of any office whatever, under any authority 
or pretended authority in hostility to the United States; that I have not 
viehled a voluntary support to any pretended government, authority, power, 
or constitution within the United States, hostile or inimical thereto. And I 
do further swear that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, I will support 
and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign 
and domestic: that I will hear true faith and allegiance to tin- same; that 1 

ke this obligation freely, without any menial reservation or purpose of 
evasion; and that I will well ami faithfully discharge the duties f tie' oi 
■ n which I am about to enter. So help me God! 

The subordinate officers were then elected, by resolution, and 
the House of Representatives being organized, was ready to entei 
upon its work. 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 



CHAPTER IT. 
locations of the members and cast of the committi - 

Importance ok surroundings— Members bometimes referred t<> by theib 
seats — Sknathi; Andhkw Johnson — Seating of the Senators — Drawing 
in the House — The Senate-chamber as seen prom the Gallery — Dis- 
tinguished Senators — The House of Representatives— Some prominent 
characters — Importance of Committees — Difficulty in theib \ppoint- 
ment — Important Senate Committees— Committees of the House. 

THE localities and surroundings of men have an influence on 
their actions and opinions. A matter which, to the casual 
observer, seems so unimportant as the -election and arrange- 
ment of the seats of Senators and Representatives, has its influence 
upon the legislation of the country. Ever since parties have had 
an existence, it has been considered of vital moment that those 
of one political faith in a deliberative body should occupy, as 
nearly a- possible, the same locality. 

It i< sometimes of service to a reader, in attempting to under- 
stand the reported proceedings of Congress, to know the localities 
of the members. Each seat has a -on of history of it< own. and 
becomes in some way identified with it- occupant. Members arc 
frequently alluded to in connection with the .-eats they occupy. 
Sometimes it happens that, year- after a man ha- gone from 
Congress, it is convenient and suggestive to refer to him by his 
old place iii the chamber. A- an illustration. Mr. Trumbull, 
in his speech on the veto , . t ' the Civil Rights Bill, desiring to 
quote Andrew Johnson, Senator, against Andrew Johnson, Presi- 
dent, referred to "a speech delivered in this body by a Senator 
occupying, 1 think, the -eat now occupied aero— the chamber by 
my friend from Oregon (Mr. William-)." 
A necessary and important part of the adjustment of the 



LOCATIOXS OF THE MEMBERS. 23 

machinery, at the opening of each Congress, is the selection of 
seats. As the Senators serve for six years, and many of them 
have been reelected more than once, there are comparatively few 
changes made at the opening of any Congress. The old members 
generally choose to retain their accustomed seats, and the small 
number that come in as new Senators choose among the vacant 
seats, as convenience or caprice may dictate. 

In the House of Representatives the formality of drawing for 
seats is necessary. That this may be conveniently and fairly 
done, at the appointed time all the members retire to the ante- 
chambers, leaving the seats all unoccupied. The Clerk draws 
at random from a receptacle containing the names of all the 
members, As the members are called, one by one, they go 
in and occupy such seats as they may choose. The unlucky 
member whose name last turns up has little room for choice, 
and must be content to spend his Congressional days far from 
the Speaker, on the remote circumference, or to the right or 
left extreme. 

There are in the Senate-chamber seventy seats, in three tiers 
of semi-circular arrangement. If all the old Southern States 
were represented by Senators on the floor, the seats would be 
more than full. As it was in the Thirty-ninth Congress, there 
were a number of vacant desks, all of them situated to the right 
and left of the presiding officer. 

In a division of political parties nearly equal, the main aisle 
from the southern entrance would be the separating line. As it 
was, the Republican Senators occupied not only the eastern half 
of the chamber, but many of them were seated on the other side, 
the comparatively few Democratic Senators sitting still further to 
the west. 

Seated in the gallery, the spectator has a favorable position to 
survey the grand historic scene which passes below. His eve is 
naturally first attracted to the chair which is constitutionally the 
seat of the second dignitary in the land — the Vice-President of 
the United States. That office, however, has no incumbent, since 
he who took oath a few months before to perform its duties was 
called to occupy a higher place, made vacant by a most atrocious 
crime. The event, however, cost the Senate little loss of dignity, 
since the chair is filled by a President pro tempore of great ability 
and excellence— Lafayette S. Foster, Senator from Connecticut. 



THE TI1II;T)--.YI.YT1I CONGRESS. 

The eye of the spectator naturally seeks oul Charles Sumner, 
who sits away on the outer tier of seats, toward the south-east 
norner of the chamber; and near him, on the left, are seen the 
late Governors, now Senators, Morgan and Yates, of New York 
and Illinois. Immediately in front of them, on the middle tier 
of seats, is an assemblage of old and distinguished Senators — 
Trumbull, Wilson, Wade, and Fessenden. To the right of the 
Vice-President's chair, and in the row of seats neares this desk, 
sits the venerable and learned lawyer, Reverdy Johnson, of Mary- 
land. Just in his rear sits the youthful Sprague, of Rhode Island, 
right is seen Sherman, of Ohio. To the rear of th< 

nators, in the outer segmenl of seats, sits, or perhaps stands, 
( {arret! Davis, of Kentucky, the mosl garrulous of old men. eon- 
tinually oui of temper with the majority, yet all the time marked 
by whal he calls his -usual courtesy." To the left of Davis, 
beyond Nesmith, of Oregon, and the other and more silent Sen- 
ator from Kentucky, sits Saulsbury, of Delaware, unless he 
should l»e traversing the carpeted space in the rear of hi- -eat. 
like a sentinel of the Senate. 

Far different is the sight presented to the spectator who looks 
down from the galleries of the House of Representatives. The 
immense area below i- supplied with two hundred and fifty-tin 
seats, with desks arranged in semi-circular row.-, having a point 
in (V..nt of the Speaker's desk as a focus. On the right of the 
spectator, as he looks from the gallery in from of the Speaker. 
i- the Republican side of the House. But this prosperous organ- 
ization has -row u so rapidly since it- birth, ten years ago, that 
it has overstepped all old and traditional party limitation.-. < >nc- 
half of the House is not sufficient to afford its representatives 
adequate accommodations. Republican members have passed 
over the main aisle, and occupy half of the Democratic side, 
having pressed the thin rank- of their opponent- to the extreme 

left. 

A- the spectator -can- the House, his eye will re-t on Thad- 
deus Stevens, whose brown wig and Roman casl of countenance 
mark the veteran of the House. He sits in the right place Im- 
:i leader of the Republicans, aboul half-way hack from theSpcak- 
er's desk, on the diagonal line which divides the western side of 
the House, where he can readily catch the Speaker's eye. and be 
easily heard by all his friend-. Immediately in hi- rear is his 



LOCATIONS OF THE MEMBERS. 25 

successor in the chairmanship of the Committee of Ways and 
Means— Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. To the right, across the aisle, 
is Elihu B. Washburn, of Illinois, the oldest member in contin- 
uous service in the House; and to his roar is Henry J. Ray- 
mond, of the Times. To the right, and partly in the rear of Mr. 
Stevens, are a number of noteworthy men: among them are 
General Schenck, General Garfield, and "Long John" Went- 
worth, of Chicago. Far around to the right, and much nearer 
the Speaker's desk, is seen a man distinguished in civil and mili- 
tary history, who once occupied the Speaker's chair — General 
Banks, of Massachusetts. In physical contrast with him. -its — 
in the adjoining desk, a tall, dark, bearded Californian — General 
John Bidwell, a new member of the House. On the opposite 
side of the House, among the Democrats, is the seat of John A. 
Bins-ham, who now returns to Congress after an absence of one 
term, whom his friends describe as the " best-natured and crossest- 
looking man in the House." James Brooks, most plausible and 
best-natured of Democrats, notwithstanding the inroads of the 
Republicans, sturdily keeps his seat near the main aisle. His 
.-eat, however, he is destined to lose before many months in favor 
of a contestant, who will occupy the other side of the chamber. 

In looking down upon so large an assemblage, a large part of 
which is so distant, the eye of the spectator will weary in the at- 
tempt to discover and recognize individuals, however familiar, 
amidst the busy throng. 

In preparing for the work of legislation, a matter of more im- 
portance than the arrangement of the seats is the cast of the 
committees. .Most of the labor of legislative bodies is done by 
committees. As it is impossible for any one Congressman to 
<dve that minute and particular attention to all the numerous 
interests demanding legislation, essential to a wise determination 
as to what bills should be presented, and how they should be 
drawn in every case, the various subjects are parceled out among 
those whose opportunities, interests, or inclinations have led them 
to give particular attention to the matters committed to their 
charge. The perfection of legislation on particular subjects »!<■- 
peilds not more on the wisdom of the entire body of Iegislala- 
tors than on the good sense of the committees that deliberate upon 
them. Much of the efficiency and Mice,-- of the legislative acts 
of Congress will depend upon the structure of the committees 



26 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

that ilo the laborious work of preparing business for the body. 
Tracing the stream <>i" legislative enactment still nearer to its 
source, it will be found that the work of a committee takes a de- 
cided tinge from the character of its chairman. 

It consequently becomes a matter of greal interest to the coun- 
try, ai the opening of each < longress, to know who constitute the 
committees. One of the most arduous and responsible duties <>t' 
the Speaker of the House of Representatives is the selection of 
committees and filling their chairmanships. Fitness and special 
adaptation are supposed to constitute the rule by which choice is 
made. Many elements, however, enter into the work which are 
not a part of this philosophy. It is impossible that the presiding 
officer should know unerringly who is absolutely the fittest man 
for any position, and if he possessed such superhuman knowledge 
he would still be trammeled by long-established rules of precedence 
and promotion. There is often a regular gradation by which men 
arrive at positions which is not in direct ratio to their fitness for 
their places. 

Not withstanding all the errors which were unavoidable elements 
in the work, committees were never better constituted than those 
of the Thirty-ninth Congress. 

The Senate being comparatively small in numbers, and, more- 
over, by usage, doing most of the details of this business in cau- 
cus, the announcement of the committees in this body was made 
on Wednesday, the third day of the session. On the other hand, 
the size of the House, the large proportion of new ami unknown 
members appearing every term, the number and magnitude of the 
committees, and the fact that the duty of appointment devolved 
upon the Speaker, combined to render the reading out of commit- 
teemen in the latter body impossible before the following Monday, 
one week alter the assembling of Congress. 

Of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Charles Sum- 
ner was appoint! d chairman. 'I "his is a very important committee, 
being the direel channel of communication between the State De- 
partment and the Senate. It being the constitutional duty of the 
Senate to pass upon all treaties, and to decide upon qualifica- 
tions of all persons nominated by the Executive t<» represent the 
United State- in foreign countries, the labors of this committee 
arc arduous and responsible. The chairmanship of this committee 
was Idled by a Senator of mosl eminent fitness and ability. His 



THE CAST OF THE COMMITTEES. 27 

literary culture, and attainments as a scholar, his general legal 

ability and familiarity with the laws of nations, his residence 
abroad for several years, and his long membership in the Senate, 
now of fourteen years' duration, all marked him as wisely chosen 
for his important position. 

On account of the immense National debt accumulated in the 
Avar, and the complication of the financial affairs of the nation, 
the Committee on Finance has an important bearing upon the 
interests of the country, unknown until recent years. William 
P. Fessenden was the Senator chosen chairman of this committee. 
I lis success in his private business, his appointment, in 1864, as 
the head of the Treasury Department, and his service in the 
Senate since 1853 as member of the Finance Committee, and since 
1859 as its chairman, all indicated the propriety of his continu- 
ance in this position. Second on the list of this committee stood 
Senator Sherman, of Ohio, who has been described as " an fait 
on National Banks, fond of figures, and in love with finances." 

The Committee on Commerce was constituted with Senator 
Chandler, of Michigan, as its chairman. Himself most success- 
ful in commercial life, in which he had attained distinction b&fore 
coming to the Senate, and representing a State having a greater 
extent of coast and better facilities for commerce than any other 
inland community in the world, Senator Chandler was eminently 
suitable as head of the Committee on Commerce. His associates 
being selected from Maine, New York, Vermont, Wisconsin, 
Kansas, and Oregon, left unrepresented no important commercial 
interest in the nation. 

The Committee on Manufactures was headed by William 
Sprague, Senator from Rhode Island, a State having the largest 
capital invested, and persons employed in manufactures, in pro- 
portion to population, of any in the Union. Senator Sprague 
himself having been educated in the counting-room of a manu- 
facturing establishment, ami having control of one of the largest 
manufacturing interests in the country, was the appropriate per- 
son for such a position. 

The agricultural States of Ohio, Kansas, Maryland, Pennsyl- 
vania, and Kentucky furnished the members of the Committee 
on Agriculture, with Senator Sherman at its head. 

Of the Committee on the Judiciary, a Senator has given a 
description. In a speech delivered in the Senate, December 12, 



28 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

I 365, Mr. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, said: "From it- very organi- 
zation the Senate designs to make that committee it- constitu- 
tional adviser — not that its opinions are to be conclusive or con- 
troling < • 1 1 the vote of any member of* this body, like the opinion 
of the bench of Judges in the EJouse of Lord-; but it- members 
are chosen in consideration of their high professional ability, their 
long i xperience, and well-known standing as jurists, in order that 
their report upon constitutional questions may be entitled to the 
highest consideration. And. sir, if you look into the organiza- 
tion of the Judiciary Committee appointed by the Senate at the 
present session; what is it? There is the Senator from Illinois, 
[Mr. Trumbull], for year- Judge of the Supreme Court <»i' that 
State before he entered this body, who. for ten year- and more, 
has been a faithful, laborious, distinguished member of that con> 
niittee. and for the last four year- its chairman. And then 
my honorable friend from New York [Mr. Harris], for twenty 
years before he came here known ami distinguished among the 
able jurists and Judges of that great State. And there is tin- 
honorable Senator from Vermont [Mr. Poland]. He has, it is 
true, just entered this body, hut his reputation as a jurist pre- 
ceded his coming, and he comas here to iill the place in this 
chamber, and i- pul upon this Judiciary Committee to iill the 
place of him of whom 1 will say, without disparagement to any, 
that he was the ablest jurist of us all— the late distinguu 
Senator from Vermont [Mr. Collamer]. And there i- the Sena- 
tor from New Hampshire [Mr. Clark], from the far East, and 
the Senator from Nevada [Mi-. Stewart], from th*' Pacific > 
and the Senator from Indiana [Mr. Hendricks], from the central 
region, each of whom stands eminent in the profession in the State 
which he represt ots, and all of whom are recognized here an 
the ablest jurists of this body." 

»uic of the great political questions destined to i the 

attention of the Thirty-ninth Congress invested the Committa on 
II,, District of Columbia with a national interest, although its 
duties pertained chiefly to the local concern- ><i the immediate 
neighborhood of the capital, ii.- chairman. Mr. Morrill, ol 
Maine, as well a- its members, among whom were Wade, Sum- 
in I-. and Yah-, gave it character and ability, and afforded assur- 
ance that the greal questions involved would he calmly met and 
honestly answer* d. 



THE CIST OF Till-: COMMITTEES. 29 

In the House of Representatives, the Committee of Ways "/<</ 
Means has ever been regarded <>f first importance, and it- chair- 
man has been considered leader of the House. Its duties, though 
of a somewhat miscellaneous character, relate chiefly to devising 
the ways and means of raising revenue, rim fact thai the Con- 
stitution provides that "all hills for raising revenue shall origi- 
nate in the House of Representatives/' gives the Committee of 
Ways and Means a sort of preeminence over all other commit- 
tees, whether of the Senate or the House. 

The work of the Committee of Ways and Means, as it ha 1 

existed before the Thirty-ninth Congress, was, at the opening of 

this session, divided among three committees; one retaining the 

old name and still remaining the leading committee, a second on 

I propitiations, and a third on Banking and Currency. 

Of the new Committee of Ways and Means, Justin S. Morrill, 
<>f Vermont, was appointed chairman — a Representative often 
year.-' experience in the House, who had seen several years of 
service on the same committee. While his abilities and habit-, 
as a student and a thinker, well adapted him for the work of 
conducting; his committee bv wise deliberation to useful measures, 
yet they were not characteristics fitting him with readiest tact 
and most resolute will to "handle the House." 

Thaddeus Stevens, the old chairman of the Committee of Ways 
and Means, was appointed the head of the new Committee on 
Appropriations. His vigilance and integrity admirably fitted 
him for this position, while his age made it desirable that he 
should be relieved of the arduous labor- of the Committee of 
Ways and Mean-. Of this committee he had been chairman in 
the two preceding Congresses, and had filled a large space in 
the public eye as leader of the House. His age— over seventy 
years — gave him the respect of members the majority of whom 
were born after he graduated at college— the more especially as 
these advanced years were not attended with any perceptible 
abatement of the intellectual vivacity or lire of youth. The 
evident honesty ami patriotism with which he advanced over 
prostrate theories and policies toward the great ends at which la- 
aimed, secured him multitudes of friends, while these same quali- 
ties contributed to make him many enemies. The timid became 
bold and the resolute were made stronger in seeing the bravery 
with which he maintained his principles. He had a habit of 



30 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

going Btraight t<> the issue, and a rugged manner <>t' presenting 

his "i>ini<>i)-, coupled with a cool assurance, which, oi f his 

unfriendly critics once declared, "sometimes rose almost to the 
sublime." He alone, of all the members of the Pennsylvania 
Convention, in 1836, refused to sign the new State Constitution, 
because it robbed the negro of his vote. It was a fitting reward 
that he, in 1866, should stand in the United States House of 
Representatives, at the head of a majority of more than one hun- 
dred, declaring that the oppressed race should enjoy rights so 
long denied. 

The Committee <m Banking and Currency had as chairman 
Theodore M. Point roy, of New York, who had served four years 
in < longress. Perhaps its most important member was Samuel 
Hooper, a Boston merchant and financier, who, from the outset of 
hi- Congressional career, now entering upon the third term, had 
been on the Committee of Ways and Means, of which he still re- 
mained a member, the only Representative retaining connection 
with the old committee and holding a place in one of the new 
offshoots from it. 

Hiram Price, of Iowa, was appointed chairman of the Com- 
mittee on the Pacific Railroad. The Speaker of the House, in 
his recent visit to the Pacific coast, had been impressed with the 
importance of this work, and wisely chose as members of this 
committee Representatives from Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Massa- 
chusetts, New York, Missouri, Kansas, California, and Oregon. 

A committee of much importance to Congress and the coun- 
try — that of Commerce — had for its chairman Elihu B. Wash- 
burn, of Illinois, who had been in the previous Congress the 
oldest member in continuous service, and hence \\a~ styled 
" Father of the House." 

The Committee on Elections subsequently losl some <»t' it- im- 
portance in the public estimation by the creation of* a special 
committee to consider subjects of reconstruction and the admis- 
sion of Southern members; yet the interests confided to it de- 
manded ability, which it had in its chairman, Henry L. Dawes, 
of Massachusetts, as well as in the Representatives that consti- 
tuted it - membership. 

The legislation relative to our vast unoccupied domain, having 
to pass through the Committee on Public Lands, renders this 
committee one of much importance. The honesty and ability of 



THE Q1ST OF THE COMMITTEES. 31 

its chairman, George W. Julian, of Indiana, together with his 
long experience in Congress, gave to the recommendations of this 

committee great character and weight. 

Of the Committee on the Judiciary, James F. Wilson, of Iowa, 
was appointed for the second time as chairman. George S. Bout- 
well, of Massachusetts, and other Representatives of ability, 
were appointed as members of this committee. Since the duty 
devolved upon it of taking testimony in regard to the impeach- 
ment of the President, this committee attracted public attention 
to a degree never known before. 

The interests of manufactures were not likely to suffer in the 
hands of a committee in which the first place was held by James 
K. Moorhead, tanner's apprentice, and pioneer of cotton manufac- 
tures in Pennsylvania, and the second by Oakes Ames, a leading 
manufacturer of Massachusetts. 

Agriculture — the most gigantic material interest in America — 
was intrusted to a committee having John Bidwell, of Califor- 
nia, as its chairman, and members chosen from Iowa, Indiana, 
Vermont, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Xew 
York. 

The chairmanship of the Committee on Military Affairs was 
bestowed upon a major-general of volunteers from Ohio, Robert 

C. Schcnck; while membership on the committee was given to a 
Connecticut colonel, Henry C. Deming; a Xew Hampshire briga- 
dier-general, Gilman Marston; a Kentucky major-general, Lov- 
ell H. Rousseau ; a Xew York Colonel, John H. Ketchum, and 
four civilians. 

Nathaniel P. Banks, Henry J. Raymond, and other men of 
much ability, were appointed on the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs. 

Special committees were appointed on the important subjects 
of Bankruptcy and the Freedmcn. Of the committee on the 
former, Thomas A. Jenekes was appointed chairman. Thomas 

D. Eliot, of Massachusetts, was made chairman of the Commit- 
tee on the Freedmcn. 

Many other committees were appointed whose labors were ar- 
duous and necessary to our legislation, yet, as they had to do 
with subjects of no great general interest, they need not be 
named. 

There was another committee, however, of great importance 






THE THIBTl'-XIXTH COXGB 



who-!- members were nul yd designated. The resolution by 
which it should be created, was yet to pass through t! \\ of 

discussion. The process l>y which this committee was cr< 
will be described in the following chapter. 



ON RECONSTRUCTION. 33 



CHAPTER TIT. 



FORMATION OF THE JOINT COMMITTKE ON RK< 'ONSTItU< TION. 

Lack of Excitement — Cause — The Resoli thin — Dilatory Motions — Yeah 
and Nays — Proposed Amendments in the Senate — Debate in the Sen- 
ate — Mr. Howard — Mr. Anthony — Mr. Doolittle — M it. Fessenden — 
Mr. Saulsbury — Mr. Hendricks — Mr. Trumbull — Mr. Guthrie — Pas- 
sage of the Resolution in the Senate — Yeas and Nays — Remarks 01 
Mr. Stevens on the Amendments of the Senate — Concurrence of the 
Souse — The Committee appointed. 

STXCE it was known throughout the country that members- 
elect from Tennessee and other States recently in rebellion 
would appear at Washington on the opening of the Thirty- 
ninth Congress, and demand recognition of their right to repre- 
sent their constituents, all eyes were turned to observe the action 
which would be taken on the subject. It was anticipated that 
the question would be sprung at once, and that a season of storm 
and excitement would ensue, unparalleled in the political history 
of the nation. Since the American people are exceedingly fond 
of excitements and sensations, the expectation of trouble in Con- 
gress drew immense numbers to its galleries on the first day of 
the session. Lovers of sensation were doomed to disappointment. 
Correspondents and reporters for the press, who were prepared to 
furnish for the newspapers descriptions of an opening of Congress 
"dangerously boisterous," were compelled to describe it as "ex- 
ceptionally quiet." 

The cause of this unexpected state of things was the fact that 
the majority had previously come to the wise conclusion thai 
il would not be well to pass upon the admission of Southern 
members in open session and amid the confusion of organization. 
As there was so much difference of opinion concerning the statu* 
of the communities recently in rebellion, and such a variety of 
considerations must be regarded in reaching wise conclusions, it 



34 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

was deemed advisable that the whole -abject should be calmly 
and deliberately inv< ted by a select number of able and 

patriotic men from both Houses of Congress. 

Accordingly, on the first day of the session, soon after the 
House was organized, Mr. Thaddeus Stevens offered th<' follow- 
ing important Resolution: 

• 7. by the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress as- 
iled, that a joint committee of fifteen members sIkiII be appointed, nine 
of whom shall be members of the House, and six members of the Senate, 
who shall inquire into the condition of the States which formed the so-called 
Confederate States of America, and report whether they or any of them arc 
entitle 1 to be represented in either House of Congress, with leave tor 
at any time by Mil or otherwise; and until such report shall have 
made, and finally acted upon by Cong i member shall be received into 

either House from any of the said so-called Confederate States; and all 
papers relating to the representation of the said States shall !><■ referred t>> 
■ committee without debate." 

Tn avoid the delay occasioned by a protracted debate, Mr. Ste- 
vens called the previous question. The minority perceived the 
impossibility of preventing tho final passage of the resolution, 

yet deemed it their duty to put it off as far as possible by their 
only available means — "dilatory motions." They first objected 
to the introduction of the resolution, under the rule that unani- 
mous consent must he given to permit a resolution to come before 
the House without notice given on a previous day. To meet this 
difficulty, Mr. Stevens moved to suspend the rule- to enable him 
to introduce the resolution. < )n this motion the yeas and nays 
were demanded. To suspend tho rule- under such circumstances 
required a two-thirds' vote, which was given — one hundred and 
twenty-nine voting for. and thirtv-five against the motion. The 
rules having been suspended, the resolution was regularly before 
the House. A motion was then mad< to lay the resolution on the 
table, and the yeas and nays demanded. Thirty-seven were in 
favor of the motion, and one hundred and thirty-three against 
it. Before a call tor the previous question is available to cut off 
debate, it must, by the rules of the House, he seconded by one- 
fifth of the members present. This having been done, the vote 
was taken by v. as and nays on the concurrent resolution sub- 
mitted by Mr. Stevens. One hundred and thirty-three voted in 
favor of the resolution, and thirty-six against it. while thirteen 



ON RECONSTRUCT j lu.Y. 35 

were reported as "not voting." As this vote was on an impor- 
tant measure, and is significant as marking with considerable 
accuracy the political complexion of the House of Representa- 
tives, it should be given in detail. 

The following are the names of those who voted "Yea:" 

• 

Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Anderson, Baker, Baldwin, Hanks, Barker, 
Baxter. Beaman, Benjamin, Bidwell, Bingham, Blow, Boutwell, Brandagee, 
Bromwell, Broomall, Buckland, Bundy, Reader W. (Mark, Sidney Clark. 
Cobb, Conkling, Cook, Cullom, Culver, Darling, Davis. Dawes. Defrees, De- 
lano, Deming, Dixon, Donnelly. Driggs, Dumont, Eckley, Eggleston, Eliot, 
Farnsworth, Ferry, Garfield, Crinnell, Griswold, Hale. Abner C. Harding, 
Hart, Hayes, Henderson, Higby, Hill, Holmes, Hooper, Hotchkiss, Asabel 
W. Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard, Demas Hubbard 
James R. Hubbell, Hulburd, James Humphrey. Ingersoll, Jenckes, Julian, 
Kasson, Kcllcy, Kelso, Ketchum, Kuykendall, Laflin, Latham, George V 
Lawrence, William Lawrence, Loan, Longyear, Lynch, Marston, Marvin, 
McClurg, Mclndoe, McKee, MeRuer, Mercur, Miller, Moorhead, Morrill, 
Monis. Moulton, Myers, Newell, O'Neill, Orthe, Paine, Patterson, Perham. 
Phelps, Pike, Pomeroy, Price, William H. Randall, Raymond. Alexander II 
Rice, John H. Rice, Rollins, Sawyer, Schenck, Scofield, Shellabarger, Smith, 
Spaulding, Starr, Stevens, Stillwell, Thayer, John L. Thomas, Trowbridge, 
Upson, Van Aernam, Burt Van Horn, Robert Van Horn, Ward, Warner. 
Elihu 15. Washburne, Welker, Wentworth, Whaley, Williams, James V 
Wilson, Windom, and Woodbridge. 

The following members voted " Nay :" 

Messrs. Ancona, Bergen, Boyer, Brooks, Chanler, Dawson, Denison, 
Eldridge, Pinck, Glossbrenner, Goodyear, Grider, Aaron Harding, Hogan, 
lames M. Humphrey, Johnson, Kerr, LeBlond. McCullough, Niblack, 
Nicholson, Noell, Radford, Samuel J. Randall, Ritter, Rogers, Ross, Shank- 
lin, Sitgreaves, Sfcrouse, Tabor, Taylor, Thornton, Trimble, Winficld, and 
Wright. 

The following are reported as "not voting:" 

Messrs. Deloa R. Ashley, James M. Ashley. Blaine, Farquhar, Harris, 
Edwin X. Hubbell, Jones. Marshall. Plants, Rousseau. Sloan, Francis 
Thomas, Yoorhers. and William 1>. Washburn. 

Thus the resolution passed the House. The immense size of 
this body required that, by stringent rule, debate should have 
limitation, and even sometimes be cut off altogether by the opera- 
tion of previous question. This arrangement enabled skillful and 
resolute leaders to earry through this measure within an hour's 
time, whereas, in the Senate, a body of less than one-third the 



36 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 

-ize. it passed after a delay of several days, and at the end 
discussion of considerable length. 

On the day following the passage of tin- resolution in the 
House of Representatives, it was read in the Senate Mr. John- 
son, of Maryland, objecting to its being considered on the day of 
it- reception, under a regulation of the Senate it was postponed. 

After tli*- lapse of a week, on Tuesday, December 1*2. the 
resolution was taken up for consideration in the Senate Mr. 
Anthony moved to amend the enacting clause so as t<> change it 
from a joint resolution to a concurred resolution, siuce, under its 
original shape, it would require the President's approval. 

This amendment having been made, Mr. Anthony moved to 
further amend the resolution l>y striking out all after the word 
"otherwise." The following are the words proposed to be 
stricken out : 

"And until Buch report slmll have been made and finally acted on by 
Congress, no member shall be received into either house from any of the 
said so-called Confederate States; and all papers relating to the representa- 
tion of said States shall be referred to the said committee without del 

Mr. Howard, of Michigan, preferred the resolution as it came 
from the House of Representatives. " li contains within itself a 
pledge on the part of the two houses, that until the report of this 
important committee shall have been presented, we will not re- 
admit any of the rebel States, cither by the recognition of their 
Senators or their Representatives. 1 think the country expects 
nothing less than this at our hand-. I think that portion of the 
loval people of the United States who have sacrificed so much 
of blood and treasure in the prosecution of the war, and who 
secured to us the signal victory which we have achieved over 

• 

the rebellion, have a right to at least this assurance at our hand-, 
that neither house of Congress will recognize a- State- any one 
of the rebel States until the event to which I have alluded. 

■• Sir, what i- the presenl positiou ami status of the rebel States? 
In mv judgment they are simply conquered communities, subju- 
gated 1>\ the arms of the United State-; communities in which 
the right of self-government does nol now exist. Why".' Because 
they have been for the last tour years hostile, to the most surpris- 
ing unanimity hostile, to the authority of the 1'tnted States, and 
have, during that period, been waging a bloody war against that 



ON RECONSTRUCTION. 37 

authority. They are simply conquered communities, and we hold 
them, as we know well, as the world knows to-day, not by their 
own tree will and consent as members of the Union, but solely by 
virtue of our military power, which is executed to that effect 
throughout the length and breadth of the rebel States. There is 
in those States no rightful authority, according to my view, at this 
time, but that of the United States; and every political act, every 
governmental act exercised within their limits, must necessarily 
be exercised and performed under the sanction and by the will of 
the conqueror. 

" In short, sir, they are not to-day loyal States ; their population 
are not willing to-day, if we are rightly informed, to perform 
peaceably, quietly, and efficiently the duties which pertain to the 
population of a State in the Union and of the Union ; and for 
one I can not consent to recognize them, even indirectly, as en- 
titled to be represented in either house of Congress at this time. 
The time has not yet come, in my judgment, to do this. I think 
that, under present circumstances, it is due to the country that 
we should give them the assurance that we will not thus hastily 
readmit to seats in the legislative bodies here the representatives 
of constituencies who are still hostile to the authority of the 
United States. I think that such constituencies are not entitled 
to be represented here." 

Mr. Anthony, of Rhode Island, said: "The amendment was 
proposed from no opposition to what I understand to be the 
purpose of the words stricken out. That purpose I understand 
to be that both houses shall act in concert in any measure-' 
which they may take for the reconstruction of the States lately 
in rebellion. I think that that object is eminently desirable, and 
not only that the two houses shall act in concert, but that Con- 
gress shall act in concert with the Executive; that all branches 
of the Government shall approach this great question in a spirit 
of comprehensive patriotism, with confidence in each other, with 
a conciliatory temper toward each other, and that each branch of 
the Government will be ready, if necessary, to concede something 
of their own views in order to meet the views of those who are 
equally charged with the responsibility of public affairs. 

"The words proposed to be stricken out refer to the joint 
committee of the two houses of Congress matters which the Con- 
stitution confides to each house separately. Each house is made, 



77/A' THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

by the ( institution, the judge of the elections, retui -. ind quali- 
fications of its own members. 

"There is one other reason why I move this cndment, and 
thai i-. that the resolution provides that papers shall 1 ■ referred 
to this committee without debate. Tins is contrary to :! e prac- 
tice of the Senate The Ho; ' Reprcsentativi likI it 
necessary, for the orderlv transaction of it.- business, to pul limi- 
tations upon debate, hence the previous question and the hour 
rule; but the Senate has always resisted every proposition of tl 
kind, and submitted to any inconvenience rather than cheek fi 
discussion. Senators around me, who were here in the minority, 
felt that the right of debate was a very pre, amis one to them at 
that time, and. as it was not taken from them, they are not dis- 
posed to take it from the minority now. 

"The purpose of all that is stricken out ran be effected by the 
separate action of the two houses, if they shall so elect. The 
House of Representatives, having passed this resolution by a great 
vole, will undoubtedly adopt, in a separate resolution, what i- 
here stricken out ; and. except so far as relate- to the restriction 
upon debate, 1 shall, if this amendment l>e adopted and the reso- 
lution passed, offer a resolution substantially declaring it to be 
the opinion of the Senate that, until this committee reports — 
presuming that it will report in a reasonable time— no action 
should lie taken upon the representation of the States lately in 
rebellion." 

Mr. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, said: "All of these great ques- 
tions, concerning reconstruction, pacification, and restoration of 
civil government in the Southern Stated, representation in this 
body, or any thing which concern.- of Federal relation.- with the 

veral State-, ought to he referred to the ( lommittce on the Judi- 
ciary. Such has been the practice of this Government from the 
beginning:. < rreat questions of constitutional law. questions con- 
cerning the relation- of the I nion to the States and the Si tcs to 
the Union, and above all. and without any exception, all ques- 
tions relating t" representation in this body, to its membership, 
have always been referred to the Judiciary Committee. 

•• There i- oothing in the history of the Senate, there i- nothing 
in the constitution of this committee, which would send lip 

great constitutional questions foi advisement and isidcration 

to any other committee than the Committee on r ■ Judiciary. 



OjY MM '0. \ 'S TB rcno.Y. 39 

To place their consideration in the hands of a committee which 
is beyond the control of the Senate, is to distrust ourselves; and 
to vole to send their consideration to any other committee, is 
equivalent to a vote of want of confidence in the Judiciary Com- 
mittee. 

"I object to this resolution, because, upon these great questions 
which are to go to the joint committee, the Senate does not stand 
upon an equality with the House. This resolution provides that, 
of the joint committee of fifteen, nine shall be appointed by the 
House of Representatives, six only by the Senate, giving to the 
House portion of the committee a majority of three. We all 
know that in joint committees the members vote, not as the 
representatives of the two houses, but per capita. The vote of a 
member of the committee from the House weighs precisely the 
same as the vote of a member of the committee from the Senate; 
SO that, to all intents and purposes, if we pass this concurrent 
resolution, which we can not repeal but by the concurrence of 
the other house, we place the consideration of these grave ques- 
tions in the hands of a committee which we can not control, and 
in which we have no equal voice. 

"Under the Constitution, upon all subjects of legislation but 
one, the two houses are equal and coordinate branches of Con- 
gress. That one relates to their representation in the bodies, to 
their membership, that which constitutes their existence, which 
is i ssential to their life and their independence. That is confided 
to each house, and to each house alone, to act for itself. It judges 
for itself upon the elections, returns, and qualifications of its 
members. It judges, it admit.-, it punishes, it expels. It can 
not share that responsibility with any other department of the 
Government. It can no more share it with the other house than 
it can share it with the Supreme Court or with the Presidi 
It is a matter over which its jurisdiction is exclusive of every 
other jurisdiction. It is a matter in which its decisions, right 
or wrong, are absolute and without appeal. In my opinion the 
Senate of the United States can not give to a committee beyond 
its control this question of the representation in this body, with- 
out a loss of its self-respect, its dignity, its independence; with- 
out an abandonment of its constitutional duty and a surrender 
of its constitutional powers. 

"There is another provision in this resolution, as it stands, 



40 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

that we shall refer every paper to the committee without debate. 
Yes, sir, the Senate of the United States is to be led like a lamb 
to the slaughter, bound hand and foot, shorn of its constitutional 
power, and gagged, dumb, like the sheep brought to the block! 
I- this the condition to which the Senator from Michigan pro- 
poses to reduce the Senate of the United States by insisting upon 
such a provision as that contained in the resolution as it .nines 
from the House of Representatives ? 

"There is a -till graver objection to this resolution as it stands. 
The provision that ( until such report shall have been made and 
finally acted on by Congress, no member shall be received into 
either house from any of the so-called Confederate State-.' is a 
provision which, by law, excludes those eleven State- from their 
representation in the Union. Sir. pass that resolution as it stands, 
ami let it receive the .signature of the President, ami you have 
accomplished what the rebellion could not accomplish, what the 
sacrifice of half a million men could not accomplish in warring 
aeainst this Government — you have dissolved the Union by act 
of Congress. Sir, are we prepared to sanction that? I trust 
never. 

"The Senator from Michigan talks about the status of th 
States. He may very properly raise the question whether they 
have any Legislatures that are capable of electing Senators to this 
body. That is a question of fact to he considered; hut a- to 
whether they are States, and States still within the Union, not- 
withstanding their civil form of government has been overturned 
by the rebellion, and their Legislatures have been disorganized, 
that they are still State- in this Union is the most -acred truth 
and the dearest truth to every American heart, and it will be 
maintained by the American people against all opposition, come 
from what quarter it may. Sir, the flag that now floats on the 
tup of this Capitol bears thirty-six -tar.-. Ever) -tar representsa 
State in this 1 iiion. 1 a-k the Senator from Michigan, doe- that 
Hag, as it floats there, speak the nation'- truth to our people and 
to the world, or is it a hypocritical, flaunting lie? That flag has 
been home at the head of our conquering legions through the 
whole South, planted at Vicksburg, planted at Columbia, Savan- 
nah, Charleston, Sumter; the same old flag which came down 
before the rebellion at Sumter was raised up again, and it -till 
bore the same glorious stars ; ' not a star obscured/ not on.'. 



ON RECONSTRUCTION. 41 

"These people have been disorganized in their civil govern- 
ments in consequence of the war; the rebels overturned civil gov- 
ernment in the first place, and we entered with our armies and 
captured the rebellion; but did that destroy the States? Not at 
all. We entered the States to save them, not to destroy them. 
The guarantee of the Constitution is a guarantee to the State-, 
and to every one of the States, and the obligation that rests upon 
us is to guarantee to South Carolina a republican form of govern- 
ment as a State in this Union, and not as a Territory. No State 
nor the people of any State had any power to withdraw from the 
Union. They could not do it peacefully ; they undertook to do it 
by arms. We crushed the attempt; we trampled their armies 
under our feet; we captured the rebellion; the States are our-: 
and we entered them to save, and not to destroy. 

" The Constitution of the United States requires the President, 
from time to time, to give to Congress information of the state of 
the Union. Who has any right to presume that the President 
will not furnish the information which his constitutional duty re- 
quires? He has at his control all the agencies which are neces- 
sary. There is the able Cabinet who surround him, with all the 
officers appointed under them : the post-masters under the Post- 
office Department, the treasury agents under the Treasury Depart- 
ment, and almost two hundred thousand men under the control 
of the War Department, in every part of this ' disaffected ' region, 
who can bring to the President information from every quarter 
of all the transactions that exist there. That the President of 
the United States will be sustained, in the views which he takes 
in his message, by the people of this country, is as certain as the 
revolutions of the earth ; and it is our duty to act harmoniously 
with him, to sustain him, to hold up his hands, to strengthen his 
heart, to speak to him words of faith, friendship, and courage. 

" I know that in all these Southern States there are a thousand 
things to give us pain, sometimes alarm, but notwithstanding the 
bad appearance which from time to time presents itself in the 
midst of that boiling caldron of passion and excitement which 
the war has left still raging there, the real progress which we 
have made has been most wonderful. I am one of those who 
look forward with hope, for I believe God reigns and rule- in 
the aflairs of mankind. I look beyond the excitement of the 
hour and all the outbreaking passion which sometimes shows 



TH E Til 1 B T ) '- . \ 7. \ ' 77/ < V. ^ 'G B F. 

itself in the South, which leads them to make enacti in their 

I . islatures which are disgraceful t<> themselves, and can n< ver be 
sanctioned by the people of this country, and also in spite of all 
the excitement of the North, 1 behold the future full <>t' confi- 
dence and hope. We have only to come up like men, and stand 
as tiic real friends of the country ami the Administration, ami 
give i" tic policy of the President a fair ami substantia] trial, ami 
all will Ik- well.'*' 

Mr. Fess< aden, of Maine, then remarked : " When this resolu- 
tion was first promulgated in the newspapers as havit 
agreed upon, 1 approved it because 1 sympathized with its 
and purpose. I < 1 1 * 1 not examine it particularly; but, looking 
simply at what it was designed for, it met my approbation simply 
for this reason: that this question of the readmission of these 
Confederate States, so called, and all the questions connected with 
that subject, 1 conceived to be of infinite importance, requiring 
calm and serious consideration, and 1 believe that the appoint- 
ment of a committee, carefully -elected l>y the two housi 
take that subject into consideration, was not only wise in itself, 
hut an imperative duty resting upon the representatives of the 
pie in the two branches of Congress. For myself, I was not 
prepared to act upon that question at once, lam not one of those 
who pin their faith upon any body, however eminent in position, 
or conceive themselves obliged, on a question of great national 
importance, to follow out any body's opinions simply because he 
i- in a position to make those opinions, perhaps, somewhat more 
imperative than any other citizen of the republic. Talk about 
the Administration! Sir, we are a part of the Administration, 
and a very important part of it. 1 have no idea of abandoning 
the prerogatives, the rights, and the duties of my position in 
favor of any body, however that person or any uumber of persons 
may desire it. In saying this. I am not about to express an 
opinion upon the subject any further than I have expn >sed it. 
and that is, that in questions of such infinite importance a- this, 
involving the integrity and welfare of the republic in all future 
time, we are solemnly hound, and our constituents will demand 
of us that we examine them with care ami fidelity, and act on our 
own convictions, and not upon the convictions of others. 

"I do not agree with the honorable Senator from Wisconsin, 
that by passing a simple resolution raising a committer <'\' our 



fj.Y RECONSTR UCTIOJf. 43 

own body, and referring to if certain papers, if we conclude to do 
so, we arc infringing upon the rights of any body or making an 
intimation with regard to any policy that the President may have 
seen tit to adopt and recommend to the country. Sir, 1 trust 
there arc no such things as exclusive friends of the President 
among us, or gentlemen who desire to be so considered. L have 
as much respect for the President of the United States probably 
as any man. I acted with him long, and I might express the 
favorable opinions which I entertain of him here, if they would 
not be out of place and in bad taste in this body. That I am 
disposed and ready to support him to the best of my ability, as 
ev<ry gentleman around me is, in good faith and with kind feel- 
ing in all that he may desire that is consistent with my views of 
duty to the country, giving him credit for intentions as good as 
mine, and with ability far greater, I am ready to asseverate. 

" But, sir, T do not agree with the doctrine, and I desire to en- 
ter my dissent to it now and here, that, because a certain line of 
policy has been adopted by one branch of the Government, or 
certain view- are entertained by one branch of the Government, 
therefore, for that reason alone and none other, that is to be tried, 
even if it is against my judgment; and I do not say that it i- or 
is not. That is a question to be considered. I have a great re- 
spect, not for myself, perhaps, but for the position which I hold 
as a Senator of the United States; and no measure of Govern- 
ment, no policy of the President, or of the head of a department, 
shall pass me while I am a Senator, if I know it, until I have 
examined it and given my assent to it ; not on account of the 
source from which it emanates, but on account of its own intrin- 
sic merits, and because i believe it will result in the good of my 
country. That is my duty as a Senator, and I fear no miscon- 
struction at home on this subject or any other. 

•' Now, therefore, sir, I hope that, laying aside all these mat- 
ters, which are entirely foreign, we shall act upon this resolution 
-imply as a matter of business. ISTo otic has a right to complain 
<<t' it that we raise a committee for certain purposes of our own 
when we judge it to be necessary. It i- an imputation upon no- 
body; it i> an insult to nobody; it is not any thing which any 
sensible man could eve]' find fault with, or be disposed to do so. 
it is our judgment, our deliberate judgment, our friendly judg- 
ment — a course of action adopted from regard to tl I of the 



44 THE THfirry-XLYTH COXGRESS. 

community, and that good of the community comprehends the 
good "t' every individual in it." 

Mr. Saulsbury, of Delaware, said: "This resolution ia very 
objectionable to my mind. Ii is for the appointmenl of a com- 
mittee of the two houses to determine and to report upon what'.' 
The right of representation of eleven States in this body. What 
determines the rights of those States to representation here? Is 
ii the views of the members of the House of Representatives"? 
Do we stand in need of any light, however bright it may be, that 
may come from that distinguished quarter? Are we going to 
ask them to illuminate u^ by wisdom, and report the fad to us 
whether those States are entitled to representation on this floor? 

•• Mr. President, on the firs! day of your assemblage alter the 
battle of Manassas, you and they declared, by joint resolution, 
that the object for which the war was waged was for do purpose 
of conquest or subjugation, but it was to preserve the union of 
the States, and to maintain the rights, dignity, and equality of 
the several States unimpaired. While that war was being waged 
there was no action, either of this house or of the House of 
Representatives, declaring that, when it was over, the exist 
of those States should be ignored, or their right to representation 
in Congress denied. Throughout the whole contest the battle- 
cry was 'the preservation of the Union ' and 'the Union of the 
State-.' [f there was a voice then raised that those Suites had 
ceased to have an existence in this body, it was so feeble as to be 
passed by and totally disregarded. 

" Sir, suppose this committee should report that those States are 
not entitled to representation in this body, are you bound by their 
action? Is there not a higher law, the supreme law of the land, 
which says if they be States that they shall each be entitled to two 
Senators on this floor? And shall a report of a joint committee 
of the two houses override and overrule the fundamental law of 
the land? Sir, it is dangerous as a precedent, and I protest against 
it as an hum I ile member of this body. If they be uot States, then 
the object avowed for which the war was waged was false." 

Mr. Hendricks, of Indiana, said: " 1 shall vote against this 
resolution because it refers to a joint committee a subject which. 
according to my judgment, belongs exclusively to the Senate. 1 
know thai the resolution no longer provides in express terms that 
the Senate, pending the continuance of the investigation of this 



ON RECONSTRUCTION. 45 

committee, will not consider the question of credentials from these 
States, but in effect it amounts to that. The question is to be 
referred to the committee, and according to usage, and it would 
seem to be the very purpose of reference that the body shall not 
consider the subject while the question is before them. I could 
not vote for a resolution that refers to a joint committee a subject 
that this body alone can decide. If there are credentials presented 
here, this body must decide the question whether the person pre- 
senting the credentials is entitled to a seat; and how can this 
body be influenced by any committee other than a committee 
that it shall raise itself?" 

Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, then followed: "If I understood 
the resolution as the Senator from Indiana does, I should cer- 
tainly vote with him ; but 1 do not so understand it. It is 
simply a resolution that a joint committee be raised to inquire 
into the condition of the States which formed the so-called Con- 
federate States of America, and to report whether they or any 
of them are entitled to be represented in either House of Con- 
gress, with leave to report at any time by bill or otherwise. It 
is true, as the Senator says, that after having raised this commit- 
tee, the Senate will not be likely to take action in regard to the 
admission of the Senators from any of these States until the 
committee shall have had a reasonable time at least to act and 
report; but it is very desirable that we should have joint action 
upon this subject. It would produce a very awkward and unde- 
sirable state of things if the House of Representatives were to 
admit members from one of the lately rebellious States, and the 
Senate were to refuse to receive Senators from the same State, 

"We all know that the State organizations in certain States of 
the Union have been usurped and overthrown. This is a fact of 
which we must officially take notice. There was a time when the 
Senator from Indiana, as well as myself, would not have thought 
of receiving a Senator from the Legislature, or what purported to 
l>e the Legislature, of South Carolina. When the people of thai 
State, by their Representatives, undertook to withdraw from the 
Union and set up an independent government in that State, in 
hostility to the Union, when the body acting as a Legislature 
there was avowedl) acting against this Government, neither he 
nor I would have received Representatives from it. That was a 
usurpation which, by force of arms, we have put down. Now the 



46 THE /'///// 7'} '-.V/.V 77/ CONGI 

question arises, Has a State government since been inaugurated 
there entitled to representation? Is not that a fair subject of 
inquiry? Ought we nol to be satisfied upon that point? We do 
not make such an inquiry in reference to members that come from 
States which have never undertaken to deny their allegiance to 
the Government of the United States. Having once been ad- 
mitted as State-, they continue so until by some positive ad they 
throw off their allegiance, and assume an attitude of hostility to 

■ 

the Government, and make war upon it; and while in that con- 
dition, I know we should all object that they, of course, could not 
be represented in the Congress of the United Stat'-. Now, is it 
not a proper subject for inquiry to ascertain whether they have 
assumed a position in harmony with the Government? and is it 
not proper that that inquiry should he made the subject of joint 
action?" 

Mr. Guthrie, of Kentucky, wished to ask the friends of this 
resolution if it was contemplated that this committee should take 
evidence, and report that evidence to the two houses. " It." -aid 
he, " they are only to take what is open to every member of the 
Senate, the fad that the rebellion has been suppressed ; the fact 
that the President of the United States has appointed officers to 
collect the taxes, ami. in some instances, judges and other officers ; 
that he has sent the post-office into all the State-: that there have 
been found enough individuals loyal to the country to accept the 
offices; the fad that, the President has issued hi- proclamation to 
all these States, appointing Provisional Governors ; that they have 
all elected conventions; that the conventions have rescinded the 
ordinances of secession; that most of them have amended their 
constitutions and abolished slavery, and tin' Legislatures of some 
of them have passed the amendment to the Constitution on the 
subjed of slavery — if they are only to take these facts, which are 
open and clear to US all, 1 can see no necessity for such a com- 
mittee. My principal objection to the resolution i-. that this 
committee can give us no information which we do not now 
possess, coupled with the fact that the loyal conservative men of 
the United States, North, South, East, and West, do most 
earnestly desire thai we -hall so act that there shall be no longer 
a doubt that we are the United States of America, in full accord 
and harmony with each other. 



ON RECONSmUCTIOjY. 47 

"I know it ha* been said thai the President had no authority 
to do these things. I read the Constitution and the laws of this 
country differently. He is to 'take care that the laws be faith- 
fully executed;' he is to suppress insurrection and rebellion. The 
power is put in his hands, and 1 do not sec why, when he marches 
into a rebel State, he has not authority to put down a rebel gov- 
ernment and put up a government that is friendly to the United 
States, and in accordance with it. I do not see why he can not 
do that while the war goes on, and I do nor see why he may not 
do it after the war is over. The people in those States lie at the 
mercy of the nation. I see no usurpation in what he has done, 
and if the work- is well done, I, for one, am ready to accept it. 
Are' we to send out a commission to see what the men whom he 
has appointed have done? It is said that they are not to be 
relied on ; that they have been guilty of treason, and we will not 
trust them. I hope that no such ideas will prevail here. I think 
this will be a eold .shock to the warm feelings of the nation for 
restoration, for equal privileges and ecpuil rights. They were in 
insurrection. We have suppressed that insurrection. They are 
now States of the Union ; and if they come here according to the 
laws of the States, they are entitled, in my judgment, to repre- 
sentation, and we have no right to refuse it. They are in a 
minority, and they would be in a minority even if they meant 
now what they felt when they raised their arms against the 
Government; but they do not, and of those whom they will 
send here to represent them, nineteen out of twenty will be just 
as loyal as any of us — even some of those who took up arms 
against us. 

"I really hope to see some one move a modification of the test 
oath, so that those who have repented of their disloyalty may 
not be excluded, for I really believe that a great many of those 
who took up arms honestly and wished to carry out the doctrines 
of secession, and who have succumbed under the force of our 
arms and the great force of public opinion, can be trusted a great 
deal more than those who did not tight at all. 

"To conclude, gentlemen, L see no great harm in this resolu- 
tion except the procrastination that will result from it, and that 
will give us nothing but what we have before us." 

The question being taken, the resolution, as amended, passed 
the Senate, thirty-three voting in the affirmative and eleven in 



48 THE THIRTY-MINTS. CONGRESS. 

the negative. The following arc the names of those who voted 
for the resolution : 

Messrs Antlmiiv. lin.iwn, Chandler, Clark, Conness, Creswell, Fessenden 
Foot, Poster, Grimes, Harris, Howard, Howe, Lane of Indiana, Lain- ol 
Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Norton, Nye, Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, 
Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Willey, Williams, 
Wilson, and Yal 

The following Senators voted against the resolution: 

Messrs, Buckalew, Cowan, 1 > i x > > 1 1 . Doolittle, Guthrie, Hendricks, Johns 
Riddle, Saulsbury, Stockton, and Wright. 

Five Senators were absent : Messrs. Cragin, Davis. Henderson, 
M < ■ I lougall, and Nesmith. 

On the <lav succeeding the adoption of the concurrent resolu- 
tion by the Senate, the amendments of that body came before the 
House of Representatives. Mr. Thaddeus Stevens moved that 

the House concur in the amendments of the Senate. He said: 

"The Senate took what to them appeared to be the proper view 
of their prerogative-, and, though they did not seem to differ 
with us as to the main object, the mode of getting at it with 
them was essential, and they very properly put the resolution in 
the shape they considered right. They have changed the form 
of the resolution so us not to require the assent of the President; 
and they have also considered that each house should determine 
for itself as to the reference of papers, by its own action at the 
time. To this I see no objection, and, while moving to concur, 
J will say now, that when it is in order 1 shall move, or some 
other gentleman will move when his State is called, a resolution 
[sely similar, or very nearly similar, to the provision which 
the S< n tie has stricken out, only applicable to the House alone." 
The House then concurred in the amendments of the Senate. 
so the resolution passed in the following form: 

■■/; by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That 

:i joint committee of fifteen members shall be appointed, nine of whom shall 
tubers of the House, and six members of the Senate, who shall inquire 
into ili" condition of the States which formed the so-called Confederate 
States of America, and report whether they, or any of them, are entitled to 
be represented in either house of Congress with leave to report at any time, 
by Mil or otherwise 



aV RECONSTRUCTION, 4 !) 

A resolution subsequently passed the House, "That all papers 
offered relative to the representation of the late so-called Confed- 
erate States of America, shall be referred to the joint committee 
of fifteen without debate, and no members shall be admitted from 
either of said so-called States until Congress shall declare such 
States entitled to representation." 

On the fourteenth of December the Speaker announced the 
names of the committee on the part of the House. They were: 
Thaddeus Stevens, Elihu B. Washburn, Justin S. Morrill, Henry 
Grider, John A. Bingham, Roscoe Conkling, George S. Boutwell, 
Henry T. Blow, and Andrew J. Rogers. 

On the twenty-first of December the following gentlemen were 
announced as members of the committee on the part of the Senate: 
William Pitt Fessenden, James W. Grimes, Ira Harris, Jacob M. 
Howard, Reverdy Johnson, and George H. Williams. 

Thus, before the adjournment of Congress for the holidays, 
the Joint Committee of Fifteen on Reconstruction had been ap- 
pointed and empowered to proceed with investigations of the 
utmost importance to the country. Hated by the late insurgents 
of the South, who expected little leniency at its hands; opposed 
by politicians at the North, who viewed it as an obstacle in the 
way of their designs, and even misrepresented by the President 
Himself, who stigmatized it as a "Central Directory," this com- 
mittee went forward in the discharge of its important duties, 
without fear or favor, having a marked influence upon the doings 
of Congress and the destinies of the country. 

Meanwhile other important measures were enlisting the atten- 
tion of Congress, and were proceeding, by the slow but steady 
steps of parliamentary progress, to their final consummation. 
4 






50 THE THIItTy-.YI.YTll CONGRESS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

suffrage in the district of columbia. 

Doty of Congress to legislate for tut. District of Columbia — Suffrage 
Bill introduced into the Hou.sk — Speech by Mr.. Wilson — Mb Boter 
— Mr Sobofield — Mr Kelley — Mr Rogers — Mr. Farnswortb — Mr. 
Davis — Mr. Chakler — Mr. Bingham — Mr. Grinnell — Mr. Kasson — 
Mr. Julian — Mi:. Thomas — Mr Darling — Mr. Sale's amendment — Mr 
Thayer— Mr Van Horn— Mr. Clarke— Mr Johnson — MrJBoutwbll. 

WHATEVEK differences of opinion may exist as to the 
authority of Congress to legislate for States loyal or dis- 
loyal, or for Territories, there is entire unanimity as to the 
power and duty of Congress to enact laws for the District of < !o- 
lumbia. Here there is no countercurrent of "reserved rights" 
or "State sovereignty" opposed to the authority of Congress. 

Congress being responsible for the legislation of the District 
of Columbia, we naturally look in that direction for an exhibition 
in miniature of* the policy of the national legislature on questions 
relating to the interests of the nation at large, [f slavery flour- 
ished and the slave-market existed in the capital, it was because 
a majority of the people of the United States were willing. So 
soon as the nation became antislavery, the "peculiar institution" 
could no longer exist in the District of Columbia, although it 
might -till survive in other localities. 

The General Government having become completely disen- 
thralled from the dominion of slavery, and a wide-spread opinion 
prevailing at the North that all loyal men should enjoy the right 
of suffrage, the members of the Thirty-ninth Congress convened 
with a sense of duty impelling them to begin the great work of 
political reform at the capital itself. Hence Mr. Wade, as we 

have Been, 0D the firsl day of the Session, introduced "Senate bill 

Number One," designed, as its title declared, "to regulate the 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBI I. 51 

elective franchise in the District of Columbia." In the House 
of Representatives, on the second day of the session, Mr. Kel- 
ley introduced "a bill extending the right of suffrage in the 
District of Columbia." This bill was referred to the Judiciary 
Committee. 

In the House of Representatives, on the 18th of December, 
Mr. Wilson, chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, re- 
ported a bill extending the right of suffrage in the District of 
Columbia. The bill provided that from all laws and parts of 
laws prescribing the qualification of electors for any office in the 
District of Columbia, the word " white" should be stricken out ; 
also, that from and after the passage of the bill, no person should 
be disqualified from voting at any election held in the District of 
Columbia on account of color; also, that all acts of Congress, and 
all laws of the State of Maryland in force in the District of 
Columbia, and all ordinances of the cities of Washington and 
Georgetown inconsistent with the provisions of the bill, should he 
repealed and annulled. 

This bill was made the special order for Wednesday the 10th of 
January. 

Mr. Wilson, of Iowa, whose duty it was, as chairman of the 
Judiciary Committee, to report the bill, opened the discussion by 
speaking as follows in favor of the measure: 

"Can we excuse ourselves in continuing a limitation on the 
right of suffrage in the capital of the republic that has no justifi- 
cation in reason, justice, or .in the principles on which we profess 
to have based our entire political system? Upon this question 
there seems to have been but little difference of opinion among 
the men who laid the foundation and built the superstructure of 
this Government. In those days no limitation was placed upon 
the enjoyment of the defensive rights of the citizen, including 
the right of suffrage, on account of the color of the skin, except 
in tin- State of South Carolina. All of the other States partici- 
pating in the formation of the Government of the United States 
had some limitation, based on sex, or age, or property placed 
upon the right of suffrage; but none of them so far forgot the 
spirit of our Constitution, the great word- of the Declaration of 
Independence, or the genius of our institutions, as to inquire into 
the color of a citizen before allowing him the -real defensive right 
of the ballot. It is true, that as the republic moved off in its 



52 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGEES 

grand course among the nations a chi s ' i" the minds 

and practi< es of the people of a majority of til'' States. Tin- love 
of liberty, because of its own gran* self, and not because of it< 
application to men of a particular color, lost its sensitive charac- 
ter and active vitality. Th<' mural sense of the people became 
dormant through the malign influence of that tolerated enemy to 
all social and governmental virtue, human slavery. The public 
conscience slumbered, it- eves closed with dollar- and it- cars 
stuffed with cotton. When these things succeeded the active jus- 
tice, abounding mercy, and love of human rights of the earlier 
days, State after State fell into the dark line of South Carolinian 
oppression, and adopted her anti-republican limitation of the 
right of suffrage. A few State- -• i 1 firm and kept their faith, 
and to-day, when compared with the bruised and peeled and op- 
pression-cursed State of South Carolina, stand forth as shining 
examples of the great rewards that are poured upon the heads 
the just. Massachusetts and South Carolina, the one true, the 
other false to the faith and ideas of the early life of the nation, 
should teach us how safe it is to do right, and how dangerous it 
is to do wrong; how much safer it is to do justice than it : 
practice oppression. 

"But. sir, not the State- alone fell into this grievous error. 
The General Government took its stand upon the side of injus- 
tice, and apostatized from the true faith of the nation, by depriv- 
a portion of its citizens of the political right of self-defense, 
the use of the ballot. What good has come to us from this apos- 
tasy? Take the history of the municipal government of this city, 
and what is there in its pages to make an American feel proud 
of the results of this departure from the principles of true de- 
mocracy? Is there a worse governed city in all the republic? 
Where in all the country was there to be found such evidences 
of thriftless dependence as in this city before the cold breath of 
the North -wept down here during the rebellion and imparted a 
little of 'Yankee' vigor to its business and population? Where 
within the bounds of professed fidelity to the Government was 
true loyalty al a lower ebb, and sympathy with the rebellion a( 

higher (1 1; freedom more hated, and emancipation more roundly 

denounced; white troops harder to raise, and black one- more 

rtily despised; Union victories more coldly received, and re- 

es productive of less despondency, than right among that por- 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 53 

tion of the voting population and its adjuncts which control the 
local elections in this District? With what complaisance the 
social elements of this capital fostered the brood of traitors who 
rushed hence to the service of the rebellion in 1861! Are these 
fruits of our errors pleasing? 

" I would not be vindictive, I would be just. I do not want 
to legislate against the white citizen for the purpose of advancing 
the interests of the colored citizen. It is best to guard against 
all such legislation. Let the laws which we pass here be of such 
pure republican character, that no person can tell from the read- 
ing of them what color is stamped upon the faces of the citizens 
of the United States. Let us have no class legislation, no class 
privileges. Let our laws be just and uniform in their operation. 
This is the smooth sea upon which our ship of state may sail; 
all others are tempestuous and uncertain. 

" And now, Mr. Speaker, who are the persons upon whom this 
bill will operate, if we shall place it upon the statute-book of the 
nation? They are citizens of the United States and residents of 
the District of Columbia. It is true that many of them have 
black faces, but that is God's work, and he is wiser than we. 
Some of them have faces marked by colors uncertain ; that is not 
God's fault. Those who hate black men most intensely can tell 
more than all others about this mixture of colors. But, mixed 
or black, they are citizens of this republic, and they have been, 
and are to-day, true and loyal to their Government ; and this is 
vastly more than many of their contemners can claim for them- 
selves. In this District a white skin was not the badge of loy- 
alty, while a black skin was. No traitor breathed the air of this 
capital wearing a black skin. Through all the gradations of 
traitors, from Wirz to Jeff. Davis, criminal eyes beamed from 
white faces. Through all phases of treason, from the bold stroke 
of Lee upon the battle-field to the unnatural sympathy of those 
who lived within this District, but hated the sight of their coun- 
try's flag, runs the blood which courses only under a white - 
face. While white men were fleeing from this city to join their 
fortunes with the rebel cause, the returning wave brought black 
in their stead. White enemies went out, black friends came 
in. As true as truth itself were these poor men to the cause of this 
imperiled nation. Wherever we have trusted them, they have been 
true. Why will we not deal justly by them ? "Why shall we not, 



54 TEE Tllliri')'-.YLYrii CONGRESS. 

in this District, win-re the first effective legislative blow fell upon 
slavery, declare thai these suffering, patient, devoted friends of the 
republic shall have the power to protect their own rights by their 
ownballots? Ls it because they are ignorant ? Sir,Aveai pped 

from that plea. It comes too late. We did not make this inquiry 
in regard to the white voter. It is only when we see a man with 
a dark skin that we think of ignorance. Let us ool stand on this 
now in relation to this District. The fact itself is rapidly passing 
away, for there is do other part of the population of the Dis- 
trict so diligent in the acquisition of knowledge as the colored 
portion. In spite of the difficulties placed in their pathway to 
knowledge by the white residents, the colored people, adults and 
children, are pressing steadily <m. 

"Taken as a class, they surely show themselves possessed of 
enough of the leaven of thrift, education, morality, and religion to 
render it safe for us to make the experiment of impartial suffrage 
here. Let us make the trial. A failure can work no great harm, 
for to 11- belongs the power to make any change which the future 
may show to be necessary. How can we tell whether -nen sj 
failure shall be the fruit of a practical application of the principles 
upon which our institutions rest, unless we put them to a fair test '.' 
Give every man a fair chance to show how well he can discharge 
the duties of fully recognized citizenship. This is the way to 
solve the problem, and in no other way can it he determined. 
That success will attend the experiment I do not doubt. Others 
believe the result will prove quite the reverse. Who is right and 
who wrong can he ascertained only by putting the two opinions 
to a practical test. The passage of this hill will furnish this test, 
and to that end I ask for it the favorable consideration of this 
house." 

Mr. Boyer, of Pennsylvania, said: "The design of this hill is 
to inaugurate here, upon tin- mo-t conspicuous stage, the first act 
of the new political drama which is intended to culminate in the 
complete political equality of the races and the establishment of 
neerro suffrage throughout the Stat.-. ( lonstitutional amendments 
with this view have been already introduced at both ends of the 
Capitol. The object of the leaders of this movement i- no longer 
concealed; and if there is any thing in their action to admire, it 
i- the candor, courage, and ability with which they press their 
cause. The agitation is to go on until the question lias been set- 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 55 

tlocl by the country, and it may as well be met here upon the 
threshold. The monstrous proposition is nothing less than the 
absorption into the body politic of the nation of a colored popu- 
lation equal to one-sixth of all the inhabitants of the country, as 
the census reports will show. Four millions of the population so 
to be amalgamated have been just ^'t free from a servitude, the 
debasing influences of which have many a time been vividly de- 
picted in the antislavery speeches of the very men who are the 
most prominent champions of this new political gospel. 

"The argument in favor of the American negro's right to vote 
must be measured by his capacity to understand and his ability to 
use such right for the promotion of the public good. And that is 
the very matter in dispute. But the point does not turn simply 
upon the inferiority of the negro race; for differences without 
inferiority may unfit one race for political or social assimilation 
with another, and render their fusion in the same government 
incompatible with the general welfare. It is, as I conceive, 
upon these principles that we must settle the question whether 
this is a white man's government. 

"The negro has no history of civilization. From the earliest 
ages of recorded time he has ever been a savage or a slave. He 
has populated with teeming millions the vast extent of a conti- 
nent, but in no portion of it has he ever emerged from barbar- 
ism, and in no age or country has he ever established any other 
stable government than a despotism. But he is the most obedi- 
ent and happy of slaves. 

"Of all men, the negroes themselves are best contented with 
their situation. They are not the prime movers in the agitations 
which concern them. An examination of the tables of the last 
census will demonstrate that they do not attach much importance 
to political rights. It will be found that the free people of color 
are most numerous in some of those States which accord them the 
fewest political privileges; and in those States which have granted 
them the right of suffrage they seem to see but few attractions. 
In Maryland there were, in I860, 83,942 free people of color; in 
Pennsylvania, 56,949; in Ohio, 36,673. In neither of those 
States were they voters. In the State of New York, where they 
could not vote except under a property qualification, which ex- 
cluded the most of them, they numbered 49,005. But in Mas- 
sachusetts, where they did then and do now vote, there were but 



60 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

9,602. And in all New England, (except ( lonnecticut, where they 
are not allowed to vote,) there were at the last oensua but 16,084. 
If tie' American negro, in his desire and capacity for self-govern- 
i cut. bore any resemblance to the < iaucasian, he would distinguish 
himself by emigration; and, spurning the soil which had enslaved 
his race, he would seek equality and independence in a more con- 
genial clime. But the spirit of independence and hardy manhood 
which broughl the Puritans to the shores of a New England wil- 
derness he lack-. He will not even go to Massachusetts now. 
although, instead of a stormy ocean, his harrier is only an imag- 
inary State line, and instead of a howling wilderness, he i- invited 
to a land resounding with the myriad voices of the industrial art-. 
and instead of painted savages with uplifted tomahawks, he has 
reason to expect a crowd of male and female philanthropists, with 
beaming faces and outstretched hands, to welcome him and call 
him brother. There will he find lecturer- to prove hi- equality, 
and statesmen to claim him as an associate ruler in the land. It 
he cares for these things, or is fit for them, why does he linger 
outside upon the very borders of his political Eden.? Why does 
he not enter into it— avoiding Connecticut in his route — and take 
possession? The fact i.-, that the tine political theories set up in 
his behalf are not in accordance with the natural instinct of the 
negro, which, in this particular, i- truer than the philosophy of 
his white advisers. 

"They are but superficial thinker- who imagine that the 
organic differences of races can he obliterated by the education 

of tli.' schools. The qualities of race- are perpetuated by descent. 

and are the result of historical influences reaching far hack int. 
the generations of the past. An educated negro i> a negro still. 
The cunning of the chisel of a Canova could not make an endur- 
ing Corinthian column out of a block of anthracite; not because 
of it- color, hut on a. 'count of the structure of it- substance, lh 
mighl indeed, with infinite pain-, give it the form, hut he could 
not impart to it the strength and a. lie-ion of particles required 
,,, enable it to brave the elements, and the temple it was made 
to support would soon crumble into ruin." 

Mi-. Schofield, of Pennsylvania, -aid: ••The cheapest elevator 
and best moralizer for an oppressed and degraded class is to in- 
spire them with self-respect, with the belief in the possibility ot 
their elevation. Bestow the elective franchise upon the colored 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 57 

population of this District, and you awaken the hope and ambi- 
tion of the whole race throughout the country. Hitherto pun- 
ishment has hern the only incentive to sobriety and industry 
furnished these people by American law. They were kept too 
low to feel disgrace, and reward was inconsistent with the theory 
of 'service owed.' Let us try now the persuasive power of wages 
and protection. If colored suffrage is still considered an experi- 
ment, this District is a good place in which to try it. The same 
objections do not exist here that are urged on behalf of sonic of 
the States. No constitutional question intervenes. Here, at 
least, Congress is supreme. The law can be passed, and if it is 
found to be bad, a majority can repeal it. The colored race is too 
small in numbers here to endanger the supremacy of the white 
people, but large and loyal enough to counteract to some extent 
disloyal proclivities. 

" Both the precept and practice of our fathers refute the alle- 
gation that this is exclusively a white man's government. If we 
can not now consent to so slight a recognition, as proposed by 
this bill, of the great underlying theory of our Government, as 
declared and practiced by our fathers, we are thrown back upon 
that new and monstrous doctrine, that the five millions of our 
colored population, and their posterity forever, have no rights 
that a white man is bound to respect. 

" Who pronounces this crushing sentence '.' The political 
South. And what is this South".' The Southern master and his 
Northern minion. Have these people wronged the South ? 
Have they filled it with violence, outrage, and murder? No, sir; 
they are remarkably gentle, patient, and respectful. Have they 
despoiled its wealth or diminished its grandeur? No, sir; their 
unpaid toil has made the material South. They removed the 
forests, cleared the fields, built the dwellings, churches, colleges, 
cities, highways, railroads, and canals. Why, then, docs the 
South hate and persecute these people? Because it has wronged 
them. Injustice always hates its victim. They are forced to 
look to the North for justice. And what is the North? Not the 
latitude of frosts; not New England and the Stales that border 
on the lakes, the Mississippi, and the Pacific. The geographical 
is lost in the political meaning of the word. The North, in a 
political sense, means justice, liberty, and union, and in the order 
in which I have named them. Jefferson defined this 'North' 



58 THE THIRTY-.YIXTH CONGRESS. 

when he wrote 'all men arc created equal, endowed by their 
Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 5 This North has no geo- 
graphical boundaries. It embraces the friends of freedom in 
every quarter of this great republic Many of it- braves! cham- 
pions hail from th graphical South. The North, thai did 
not fear the -lave power in it- prime, in the day of it- political 
strength and patronage, when it commanded alike the nation and 
the mob, and for the same cruel purpose, will not be intimidated 
by it- expiring maledictions around this capital. The North 
must pass this bill to vindicate it- sincerity and it- courage. The 
-lave power has already learned that the North is terrible in war, 
and forgiving and gentle in peace; let its crushed and mangled 
victims learn from the passage of this bill, that the justice of the 
North, unlimited by lines of latitude, unlimited by color or race, 
slumbereth not." 

Mr. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, followed: "In preparing to be- 
gin the work of reconstructing the grandest of human govern- 
ments, shattered for a time by treason, and in endeavoring to 
ascertain what we should do, and how and when it should he 
done, I have consulted no popular impulse. Groping my way 
through the murky political atmosphere that has prevailed for 
more than thirty years, I have seated myself at the feel of • 
fathers of our country, that I might, as far as my .-;. ons 

would go, make them in accordance with the principle- of th' 
who constructed our < rovernment. I can make no suggestion for 
the improvement of the primary principle- or general structure of 
our Government, and I would heal it- wounds so carefully that it 
should descend to posterity unstained and unmarred as it came, 
under the guidance of Providence, from the hands of those who 
fashioned it. 

" For whom do we ask tin- legislation? In I860, according 
to the census, there were fourteen thousand three hundred and 
sixteen colored people in this District, and we ask this legislation 
for the male adults of' that number. Are they in rags and tilth 
and degradation? The tax-books of the District will tell you 
that they pay taxes ,,n $1,250,000 worth of real estate, held 
within the limit- of this District. On one block, on which they 
pay taxes on fifty odd thousand dollar-, there are hut two colored 

freeholders who have not bought themselves out of slavery. 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 59 

One of them has bought as many as eight persons beside him- 
self — a wife and seven children. Coming to freedom in man- 
hood, mortgaged for a thousand or fifteen hundred dollars as his 
own price, he has earned and carried to the Southern robber 
thousands of dollars, the price extorted for his wife and children, 
and is now a freeholder in this District. They have twenty-one 
churches, which they own, and which they maintain at an an- 
imal cost of over twenty thousand dollars. Their communing 
members number over forty-three hundred. In their twenty- 
two Sunday-schools they gather on each Sabbath over three thou- 
sand American children of African descent. They maintain, sir, 
to the infamous disgrace of the American Congress and people, 
thirty-three day schools, eight of which arc maintained exclu- 
sively by contributions from colored citizens of the District; the 
remainder by their contributions, eked out by contributions from 
the generous people of the North ; and every dollar of their 
million and a quarter dollars of real estate and personal property 
is taxed for schools to educate the children of the white people 
of the District, the fathers of many of those children having been 
absent during the war fighting for the Confederacy and against 
our constitutional flag. Who shall reproach them with being 
poor and ignorant while Congress, which has exclusive jurisdic- 
tion over the District, has, till last year, robbed them day by day, 
and barred the door of the public school against them '? Such 
reproach does not lie in the white man's mouth ; at any rate, no 
member of the Democratic party ought to utter it." 

The debate was continued on the day following. Mr. Rogers, 
of Xew Jersey, having obtained the floor, addressed the House 
for two hours. He said : "I hold that there never has been, in 
the legislation of the United States, a bill which involved so 
momentous consequences as that now under consideration, because 
nowhere in the history of this country, from the time that the 
first reins of party strife were drawn over the land, was any po- 
litical party ever known to advocate the doctrine now advocated 
by a portion of the party on the other side of this House, except 
within the last year, ami during the heat and strife of battle in 
the laud. The wisdom of ages for more than live thousand years, 
and the most enlightened governments that ever existed upon the 
face of the earth, have handed down to us that grand principle 
that all governments of a civilized character have been and were 



60 THE THI1;T}--.YI.YTII CONGRESS. 

intended especially for the benefit of white men and white women, 
and not for those who belong to the negro, Indian, or mulatto race. 
" It i- the high prerogative which the political system of this 
country has given to the masses, rich and poor, to exercise the 
right of suffrage and declare, according to the honest convictions 
of their hearts, who shall be the officers to rule over them. 
There is no privilege so high, there is no right so grand. It 
lies at the very foundation of this Government; and when yon 
introduce into the social system of thi< country the right of the 
African race to compete at the ballot-box with the intelligent 
while citizens of this country, you are disturbing and embitter- 
ing the whole social system : you rend the bond- of a common 

■ » 

political faith; you break up < imercial intercourse and the free 

interchanges of trade, and you degrade the people of this country 
before the eyes of the envious monarchs of Europe, and fill our 
history with a record of degradation and shame. 

"Why, then, should we attempt at this time to inflict the sys- 
tem of oegro suffrage upon those who happen to he so unfortunate 
a- to reside in the District of Columbia? This city bears the 
name of George Washington, the father of our country ; and aS 
it was founded by him, so I wish to hand it down to those who 
shall come after us, preserving that principle which declares that 
the sovereignty is in the white people of the country, for whose 
benefit this Government was established. 1 am not ready to 
believe that those men who have laid down their lives in the 
batth- of the late revolution, who came from their home- like 
the torrents that sweep over their native hills and mountains, 
those men who gathered round the sacred precincts of the tomb 
of Washington to uphold and perpetuate our proud heritage of 
liberty, intended to inflict upon the people of this District, or of 
this land, the monstrous doctrine of political equality of the negro 
race with the white at the ballot-box. 

mi such dogma a- tlii< was ever announced by the Republican 
party in their platforms. When that party met at Chicago, in 
I860, they took pains to enunciate the great principle of self-gov- 
ernment which underlies the institutions of this country, that each 
Stat.- ha- the right to control its own dome-tie policy according 

to it- own judgmenl exclusively. 1 ask the gentlemen on the 
other side of the house \<> allow the people of the District of 
Columbia to exercise the same great righl of self-government, to 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 01 

determine by their votes at the ballot-box whether they desire to 
inaugurate a system of political equality with the colored people 
of the District. 

"Self-government was the great principle which impelled our 
fathers to protest against the powers of King George. That was 
the principle which led the brave army of George Washington 
across the ice of the river Delaware. Tt was the principle which 
-truck a successful blow against despotism, and planted liberty 
upon this continent. It was the principle that our fathers claimed 
the Parliament of England had no right to invade, and drove 
the colonies into rebellion, because laws were passed without their 
consent by a Parliament in which they were unrepresented. 

" I am here to-day to plead for the white people of this District, 
upon the same grounds taken by our fathers to the English Par- 
liament, in favor of self-government and the right of the people 
of the District to be heard upon this all-important question. Al- 
though we may have a legal yet we have no moral right, according 
to the immutable principles of justice, and according to the declara- 
tion of Holy Writ, that we should do unto others as we would 
they should do unto us, to inflict upon the people of this Dis- 
trict this fiendish doctrine of political equality with a race that 
God Almighty never intended should stand upon an equal footing 
with the white man and woman in social or civil life." 

Mr. Farnsworth, of Illinois, replied : " He [Mr. Rogers] says 
this is a white man's Government. ' A white man's Government ! ' 
Why, sir, did not the Congress of the United States pass a law 
for enrolling into the service of the United States the black man 
as well as the white man ? Did not we tax the black man as 
well as the white man? Does he not contribute his money as 
well as his blood for the protection and defense of the Govern- 
ment? O, yes; and now. when the black man comes hobbling 
home upon his crutches and his wooden limbs, maimed for life, 
bleeding, crushed, wounded, is he to be told by the people who 
called him into the service of the Government, 'This is a white 
man's Government: you have nothing to do with it'." Shame! 
I say, eternal shame upon such a doe-trine, and upon the men who 
advocate it ! 

" What should be the test as to the right to exercise the elective 
franchise? I contend that the only question to be asked should 
be, ' Is he a man ? ' The test should be that of manhood, not that 



77/ /•; 77/ / R T J "-.A 7. \ '77/ ( '<>. \ 'G R /> S 

of color, or races, <>r class. Is he endowed with conscience and 
reason? I- he an immortal being? [f these questions are an- 
swered in the affirmative, he has the same righl to protection that 
we all enjoy. 

" L am in favor, Mr. Speaker, of making suffrage equal and 
universal. 1 believe that greater wisdom is concentrated in the 
decisions of the ballot-box when all citizens of a certain age 
vote than when only a pari vote. If you apply a test founded 
on education or intelligence, where will you stop? One man will 
say that the voter should be able to read the Constitution and to 
write his name; another, that he should be acquainted with the 
history of the United States; another will demand a still higher 
degree of education and intelligence, until you will establish an 
aristocracy of wisdom, which is one of the worst kinds of aris- 
tocracy. Sir, the men who formed this Government, who believed 
in the rights of human nature, and designed the Government to 
protect them, believed, 1 think, as I do, that \\ hen suffrage is made 
universal, you concentrate in the ballot-box a larger amount of 
wisdom than when you exclude a portion of the citizens from the 
right of >nlVrage. 

■• 1 errant, sir, that many of the colored men whom I would en- 
franchise are poor and ignorant, hut we have made them so. W e 
have oppressed them by our laws. We have stolen them from 
their cradles and consigned them to helpless slavery. The .-hackles 
are now knocked from their limbs, and they emerge from the house 
of bondage and stand forth as men. Let us now take the next 
grand step, a step which must commend itself to our judgment 
and consciences. Let us clothe these men with the rights of free- 
men, and give them the power to protect their rights. 

"Sir, as I have already remarked, we have passed through a 
fiery ordeal. There are but few homes within our land that are 

i.< o made desolate by the loss of a son or a father. The widow 
and the orphan meet us wherever we turn. The maimed and 
crippled soldiers of the republic are every-where seen. Many 
fair fields have become cemeteries, where molder the remain- of 
the noble men who have laid down their lives in defense of our 
Government. We thought that we had attained the crisis of our 
troubles during the progress of the war. But it has keen said that 
the ground-swell of the ocean after the Btorm is often more dan- 
gerous to the mariner than the tempesl itself j and 1 am inclined to 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBJ.I. GS 

think that this is true in reference to the present posture of our na- 
tional affairs. The storm has apparently subsided ; but, sir, if we fail 
to do our duty now as a nation — and that duty is so simple that a 
child can understand it; no elaborate argumenl need enforce it, as 
no sophistry can conceal it; it is simply to give to one man the 
same rights that we give to another — if we fail now in this our 
plain duty as a nation, then the ship of state is in more peril from 
this ground-swell on which we are riding than it was during the 
fierce tempest of war. I trust that this Congress will have the 
firmness and wisdom to guide the old ship safely into the haven 
of peace and security. This we can do by fixing our eyes upon 
the guiding star of our fathers — the equal rights of all men." 

The discussion was resumed on the following day, January 12, 
by Mr. Davis, of Xew York : " Republican government can never 
rest safely, it can never rest peacefully, upon any foundation save 
that of the intelligence and virtue of its subjects. Xo govern- 
ment, republican in form, was ever prosperous where its people 
were ignorant and debased. And in this Government, where 
our fathers paid so much attention to intelligence, to the cultiva- 
tion of virtue, and to all considerations which should surround 
and guard the foundations of the republic, I am sure that we 
would do dishonor to their memory by conferring the franchise 
upon men unfitted to receive it and unworthy to exercise it. 

" I am perfectly aware that in many States we have given the 
elective franchise to the white man who is debased and ignorant. 
I regret it, because I think that intelligence ought always, either 
as to the black or the white man, to be made a test of suffrage. 
And I glory in the principles that have been established by Mas- 
sachusetts, which prescribes, not that a man should have money 
in his purse, but that he should have in his head a cultivated 
brain, the ability to read the Constitution of his country, and 
intelligence to understand his rights as a citizen. 

"I have never been one of those who believed that the black 
man had 'no rights that the white man was bound to respect. 5 
I believe that the black man in this country is entitled to citizen- 
ship, and, by virtue of that citizenship, is entitled to protection, 
to the full power of this Government, wherever he may lie found 
on the face of God's earth; that he has a right to demand that 
the shield of this Government shall be held over him, and that 
its powers shall be exerted on his behalf to the same extent as 



64 THE TIIIl;T)--.Yl.YTH m.Ydj, 

if he were the proudest grandee of the laud. But, sir, citizen- 
ship i- one thing, and the right of suffrage is another and a 
different thins:: and in circumstances such as exist around us, I 
am unwilling that general, universal, unrestricted suffrage should 
be -ranted to the black men of this District, as is proposed by 
the bill under consideration. 

"This whole subject is within the power of Cor I if 

we grant restricted privilege to-day, we can extend the ex< rcise 
of thai privilege to-morrow. Public sentiment on this, a- on a 
srreat many subiects, is a matter of slow growth and develop- 
ment. That is the history of the world. Development upon all 
great subjects is slow. The development of the globe itself lias 
required countless ages before it was prepared for the introduc- 
tion of man upon it. And take the progress of the human race 
through the historic age— kingdoms and empires, systems of 
social polity, systems of religion, systems of science, have been 
of no rapid growth, but long centuries intervened between their 
origin and their overthrow. 

••The Creator placed man on earth, not for the perfection of 
the individual, but the race: and therefore he locked up the 
mysteries of his power in the bosom of the earth and in the 
depths of the heavens, rendering them invisible to mankind. 
He made man study those secrets, those mysteries, in order that 
his uetiius might be cultivated, his views enlarged, his intellect 
matured, so that he might gradually rise in the scale of being, 
and finally attain the full perfection for which his Creator de- 
signed him. 

"Thus governments, political systems, and political rights have 
been the subjects of study and improvement: changes adapted 
to the advance of society arc made; experiments arc tried, based 
upon reason and upon judgment, and those arc safest which in 
their gradual intro.ln.iion avoid unnecessary violence and eon- 
vulsion. 

"1 submit, sir, whether it be wise for us now g • suddenly to 
alt.r so entirely the political steUw of so great a number of the 
citizens of this District, in conferring upon them indiscriminately 
the right of franchise." 

Mr. Chanler, of New York, then addressed the House: 

" li' sir, it should ever be your good fortune to visit romantic 
old Spain, and to enter the fortress and palace of Alhamhra, the 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBL . Go 

fairest monument of Moorish grandeur and skill, as this Capitol 
is the pride of American architecture, you may sec cut in stone 
a hand holding a key. surmounting the horse-shoe arch of the 
main gateway. They art- the three types of strength, speed, and 
secresy, the boast of a now fallen Saracen race, sons of that sea 
of sand, the desert, who carried the glory of [slam to furthest 
Gades. In an evil hour of civil strife and hitter hatred of fac- 
tion, the Alhambra was betrayed to Spain, 'to feed fat an ancient 
grudge' between political chiefs. The stronghold of the race, 
with the palace, the sacred courts of justice, and all the rare 
works of art — the gardens of unrivaled splendor — all that was 
their own of majesty, strength, and beauty, became the trophies 
of another. 

"The legend of the Saracen exile tells the story of penitenee 
and shame; and to the last moment of his sad life he sighs in 
the sultry desert for the fair home of his ancestors, the gorgeous 
Alhambra. We, too, arc descended from a raee of conquerors, 
who erossed the ocean to establish the glory of civil and religious 
liberty, and secure freedom to themselves and their posterity. 
To-day we are assembled in the Alhambra of America; here is 
our citadel: here our courts of highest resort; around these halls 
cluster the proudest associations of the American people; they 
seem almost sacred in their eyes. No hostile foot of foreign foe 
or domestic traitor has trodden them in triumph. Above it floats 
the flag, the emblem of our Union. That Union is the emblem 
of the triumphs of the white race. That raee rules by the ballot. 
Shall we surrender the ballot, the emblem of our sovereignty; 
the flag, the emblem of our Union; the Union, the emblem of 
our national glory, that they may become the badges of our 
weakness and the trophies of another race? Never, sir! never, 



never ! 



"Shall the white laborer bow his free, independent, and hon- 
ored brow to the level of the negro just set free from slavery, 
and, bv yielding the entrance to this great citadel of our nation, 
surrender the mastery of his race, over the Representatives of the 
people, the Senate, and Supreme Court of this Union? Then, 
sir, the white workingman's sovereignty would begin to cease to be. 

"Then the most democratic majesty of American Liberty would 
be humbled in the little dust which was lately raised by a brief 
campaign of two hundred thousand negro troops, and even they 
5 



66 THE THIRTY-NINTH. CONGRESS. 

led by white officers, while millions of white soldiers held the 
field in victory by their own strength and valor. Deny it if ye 
dare! Sir, I know that this is a white man's Government, and 
I believe the white workingman has the manhood which shall 
preserve it to his latest posterity, pure and strong, in 'justice 
tempered with mercy.' 

"There may be a legend hereafter telling of the exile of Rep- 
resentatives now on this floor, who, in the hour of party Bpite, 
betrayed the dominion <>f their race here and the stronghold of 
their people's liberty, to a servile ami foreign race." 

Near the close of Mr. ('hauler's remarks, his time having been 
extended by courtesy of the House, a forensic passage at arms 
occurred between that gentleman and Mr. Bingham, of Ohio. 
Mr. Chanter had said: " I deny that any obligation rests against 
this Government to do any thing more for the negro than ha- 
already been done. 'On what meats doth this Ca-ar W-v<\ that he 
has grown so great?' The white soldier did as much work as he, 
fought a.- well, died a- bravely, suffered in hospitals and in the 
field as well as he. More than this, the white soldier fought to 
liberate the slave, and did do it. The white soldier did more: 
hi' fought to preserve institutions and rights endeared to him by 
every hallowed association; to overthrow the rebellion of his 
brother against their Commonwealth and glorious Union; to 
preserve the sovereignty of the people against the conspiracy of a 
slave aristocracy, if you will; to maintain the fabric of the Gov- 
ernment built by their fathers for them and their race in every 
country of kindred nun who, downtrodden and disenfranchised, 
look to this country as a sure refuge. The white soldier fought 
as a volunteer, as a responsible, free, and resolute citizen, know- 
ing for what he fought, and generously letting the slave share 
with him the honor, ami bestowing on him more than his share 
of the profit- of the white man'- victory over hi- equal and the 
negro's master. 

" We are willing that the negro should have every protection 
which the law can throw around him, hut there is a majesty which 
'hedges in a king.' That he ought not to have until he shows 
himself ' every inch a king.' 

Who would be free, themselves must Btfike the blow. 
Some are born great, some achi< .•■ greatness and some have greatness 
thrift upon them. 1 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 67 

"We arc opposed to thrusting honor on the negro. lie is to- 
day, as a rare, as dependent <>n tin- power and skill of the white 
race fur protection as when he was first brought from A trie;;. 
Not one act of theirs has proved the capacity of the black race 
for self-government. They have neither literature, arts, nor arms, 
as a race. They have never, during all the changes of dynasties 
or revolution of States, risen higher than to be the helpers of the 
contending parties. They have had the same opportunity as the 
Indian to secure their independence of the white race, but have 
never systematically even attempted it on this continent, although 
they have been educated with equal care, and in the same schools 
as the white man. Their race has been subject to the white man, 
and has submitted to the yoke." 

Mr. Bingham. — " I understood the gentleman to say, that the 
colored race had failed to strike for their rights during the late 
rebellion. I wish to remind the gentleman of the fact, which 
ought to bring a blush to the cheek of every American citizen., 
that at the beginning of this great struggle, a distinguished gen- 
eral, who, I have no doubt, received the political support of the 
gentleman himself for the Presidency, and who, then at the head 
of an American army within the Commonwealth of Virginia, 
issued his proclamation, as general in command of the army, 
notifying the insurgents in arms against the Constitution that, 
if their slaves rose in revolt for their liberty, he, Major-General 
McClellan, by the whole force of the army at his command, would 
crush them with an iron hand. Yet the gentleman gets up here 
to-day, after a record of that sort, to cast censure upon this people 
because they did not strike for their liberties against the com- 
bined armies of the republic and the armies of treason!" 

Mr. Chanler. — "My honorable friend from Ohio may have 
made a good point against General MeClcllan, but he has made 
none against me. I admit that they have made successful insur- 
rections, but my argument was not to the effect that the negro 
race was not capable of the bloodiest deeds. I avoided entering 
into that question. I asserted that they had made successful in- 
surrection; that they had held the white race under their heel in 
Ilayti and St. Domingo. I would only say, with regard to this 
question of race, that I assert there is no record of the black race 
having proved its capacity for self-government as a race; that 
they have never struck a blow for freedom, and maintained their 



63 Til!' THIRTY-MINTE CONGRE& 

■ >m and independence as individuals when free. I appe 
•v, and to the gentleman from < >li I< > [Mr. Bingham], and I 
k as a student of history, and the representative of a race 
who-*- proudest boast is that their capacity for self-govern- 
ment is the only charter of their liberty. I assail m> race; I 
I no man. I have taken the greatest pains to prove that the 
inalienable rights of the black man are as sacred to me a- tl 
inalienable rights I have received from mv God. If the gentle- 
misunderstood me, I hope he will accept this explanation. 
If I have not met hi- question, I will now yield the floor t" him 
to continue/ 3 

Mr. Bingham. — " And 1 continue thus fir, that the gentle- 
man's speech certainly has relation to the rights of the black man 
within the Republic of the I " nit--- 1 States. What he may say of 
their history outside of the jurisdiction of this country, it i- not 
very important for me to take notice of. But inasmuch as the 
tleman ha- seen tit. in hi.- response to what I -aid. t" refer to 
the testimony of history, I will bear witness now. by the authority 
of history, that this very race of which he speaks i- the only race 
now existing upon this planet that ever hewed their way ..tit of 
prison-house of chattel slavery to the sunlight of personal 
rty by their own unaided arm. So much for that part of the 
! - argument as relate.- to history." 

hanler. — "Doe- the gentleman allude now to what has 
d< u in other lands than this? [ ask the question because he 
- he doe- not like me to go outside of the jurisdiction of this 
. try, and 1 therefore ask him not to go too far into Africa.'" 
. Bingham. — " I am not in Africa. I refer to what the in- 
ferred to himself. The insurrection in St. Domingo, 1 
stands without a parallel in the history of any race now liv- 
3 on this earth, and 1 challenge the gentleman to refute that 
- • ■ from history." 

Mr. anler. — " Thai i- admitted." 

Kngham. — "That is admitted. Then 1 want to know, 

a fact like that conceded, what sort of logic, what sort of 

; sorl of reason, what sorl of justice i- there in the 

■ the gentleman made 'here in a deliberative assembly 

the question of the personal enfranchisement of the 

race, when he says in the .-- it here, right in the face 

-. that they only are entitled to their liberty who strike 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 69 

tlit' blow for and maintain their liberty? They did strike the 
blow in Hayti, and did maintain their liberty there. They .struck 
such a blow for liberty there as no other race of men under like 
circumstances ever before struck, now represented by any organ- 
ized community upon this planet; and that the gentleman con- 
ceded. And yet this sort of argument is. to be adduced here as 
reason why these people in the District of Columbia should not 
receive the consideration of this House, and be protected in their 
rights as men. If the gentleman's remark is not adduced for 
that purpose, then it is altogether foreign to our inquiry. If the 
gentleman can assign any other reason for the introduction of any 
such argument as that, I should like to hear him." 

Mr. Chanler. — "I merely wish to say, in reply to the gentle- 
man, that I have read history a little further back. I remember 
when the British fleet and the British army held out a similar 
threat to the white race of this country. The proclamation of 
General McClellan did keep down the negroes; and this fact 
proves what I assert — that they are a race to be kept under. No 
race capable of achieving its liberty by its own efforts, would have 
listened for one moment to the paper threats of all the generals 
in the world. The negroes listened to MeClellan, and they 
shrank behind the bush. They are bushmen in Africa. They are 
a dependent race, unwilling — I assert it from the record of his- 
tory — unwilling to assert their independence at the risk of their 
lives. By their own eiforts they never have attained, and I 
firmly believe they never will attain, their liberty." 

'Sir. Bingham replied: "I desire to say to the gentleman from 
Xew York, when he talks of being a 'student of history,' that 
before the tribunal of history the facts are not against me nor 
against the colored race. I beg leave to say to the gentleman 
that these people have borne themselves as bravely, as well, and, 
I may add, as wisely during the great contest just closed, as any 
people to whom he can point, situated in like circumstances, at 
any period of the world's history. They were in chains when 
the rebellion broke out. They constituted but one-sixth of the 
whole body of the people. By the terms of the Constitution of 
the United States, if they lifted a hand in the assertion of their 
right to freedom, they were liable that moment to be crushed bv 
the combined power of the Republic, called out, in pursuance of 
the very letter of the Constitution, 'to suppress insurrection.' 



70 THE TIIIi; l)-.vr.YTlI CONGRESS 

Yet, notwithstanding the feet that their whole living generation 
and the generations before them, running back two centuries, had 
been enslaved and brutalized, reduced to the sad and miserable 
condition of chattels, which, for want of a better nunc we call a 
'slave' — an article of merchandise, a thing of trad , with ii" 
knowledged rights in the present, and denied even the bopi of a 
heritage in the great hereafter — yet, sir, the moment that the 
word ' Liberty' ran along your rank-, the moment that the won! 
'Emancipation' was emblazoned upon your banners, those men 
who, with their ancestors, had been enslaved through five gene- 
rations, rose as one man to stand by this republic, the last hope 
of oppressed humanity upon the earth, until they numbered one 
hundred and seventy-five thousand arraved in arms under your 

■ * * 

banners, doing firmly, unshrinkingly, and defiantly their full 
share in securing the final victory of our arm-. I have -said this 
much in defense of men who had the manhood, in the hour of the 
nation's trial, to strike for the flag and the unity of the republic 
in the tempest of the great conflict, and to stand, where brave 
men only could stand, on the field of poised battle, where the 
earthquake and the tire led the charge. Sir, I am not mistaken; 
and the record of history to which J have referred does not, as 
the gentleman affirms it does, make against me." 

Mr. Grinnell, of Iowa, in reply to Mr. Chauler, said: "He 
[Mr. Chanler] proceeds to say that they are now. as a class, de- 
pendent as when tiny were brought from their native wilds in 
Africa. Sir, I believe if the gentleman were master of all Ian- 
guages, if he were to attempt to put into a sentence the quintes- 
sence, the high-wines, and sublimation <>\' an untruth, he could 
not have more concentrated his language into a libel. 

"What is the fact, sir? It is perfectly notorious that these four 
million slaves have not only taken care of themselves amid all the 
nious impediments which tyrant- could impose, but the; have 
borne upon their stalwart shoulders their masters, million- of 
people, for a century. Why, sir, it seemed a- impossible for a 
man to swim the Atlantic with Mount A t la- upon hi- bqck, or 
make harmonious base to the thunders of heaven. But these men 
have achieved the world'- wonder — coming out from the tortures 
of slavery, from the prison-house, untainted with dishonor or 
crime, and out of the war tree, uoble, brave, and more worthy of 
their friend-, always true to the fl 



DISTRICT OF COIl' Mil 1. 1 71 

"Mr. Speaker, it was in fable that a man pointed a lion to the 
picture which represented the king of the forest prostrate, with a 
man's fool on his neck, and asked what lie thought of that. The 
reply was, ' Lions have no painters. 5 For days the unblushing 
apostles of sham Democracy have in this House drawn pictures 
of the ignorance and degradation of the people of color in the 
District of Columbia. Had the subjects of their wanton defama- 
tion had a Representative here, there would have been a different 
coloring to the picture, and I would gladly leave their defense to 
the Representatives of classes who have by hundreds darkened 
these galleries with their sable countenances, waiting for days to 
hear the decisive vote which announces that their freedom is not 
a mockery. 

"Who are they to whom this bill proposes to give suffrage? 
They are twenty thousand people, owning twenty-one churches, 
maintaining thirty-three day schools, and paying taxes on more 
than one and a quarter million dollars' worth of real property. 
Thirty per cent, of their number were slaves ; but the census does 
not show that there is a Democratic congressional district in the 
Union where a larger proportion of its population are found at- 
tendant at the churches or in the schools. 

" They did not follow the example of their pale-faced neighbors, 
to the number of thousands, crossing the line to join in the rebell- 
ion ; but three thousand and more of their number went into the 
Union army, nearly one thousand of whom, as soldiers, fell bv 
disease and battle in the room of those avIio wept on Northern soil 
for rebel defeats, and now decry the manhood and withhold just 
rights from our true national defenders. 

"In the South they were our friends. In the language of an 
official dispatch of Secretary Seward to Minister Adams, ' Every- 
where the American general receives his most useful and reliable 
information from the negro, who hails his coming as the harbinger 
of freedom. 1 Not one, but many, of our generals have proclaimed 
that the negro has gained by the bayonet the ballot. Admiral Du 
Pont made mention of the negro pilot Small, who brought out 
the steamer Planter, mounting a rifled and siege gun, from Char- 
leston, as a prize to us, under the very guns of the enemy. lie 
brought us the first trophy from Fort Sumter, and information 
more valuable than the prize. 

"The celebrated charge of the negro brigade at the conflict at 



72 THE THIRTY-NIJfTR CONGRE& 

Porl Hudsonhas passed into history. The position of the colored 
people in the State of Lowa reflects lasting honor on their loyalty, 
and our brave white soldiers would not have me withhold the 
facts. In the -State there were between nine hundred and a 
thousand people of their class subject to military duty. Of that 
number more than seven hundred entered the army. They put to 
blush the patriotism of the dominant race in all Democratic dis- 
tricts. Seven-tenths of a class, without the inducement of com- 
missions as lieutenants, captains, colonel-, commissaries, or quar- 
termasti rs, braving the hate and vengeance of rebels, rushing into 
the deadly imminent breach in the darkest hour of our struggle! 
Where is the parallel to this? They had no flag; it was a 
mockery. There was no pledge of political franchise. Does 
history cite us to a country where so large a per cent, of the pop- 
ulation went forth for the national defense? It was not under the 
Caesars; and Harold, in the defense of Britain, left behind him a 
larger per cent, of the stalwart and the strong. They were more 
eager to maintain the national honor than the zealots to rescue 
Jerusalem from the profanation of infidels. Not Frank or Hun. 
nor Huguenot or Roundhead, or mountaineer, Hungarian, or Pole, 
exceeded their sacrifices made when tardily accepted. And this is 
the race now a.-king our favor. 

" Mr. Speaker, it will be one of the most joyful occasions of my 
lit'e to give expression to my gratitude by voting a ballot to those 
who owed us so little, yet have aided us SO faithfully and well. 
My conscience approves it as a humane act to the millions who 
tor centuries have groaned under a terrible realization that on 
the side of the oppressor there is power. 

"My purpose i- not to leave that heritage of shame to my 
children, that 1 forgot those whose bl 1 fed our rivers and crim- 
soned th<' sea, and left them outcasts in the l land of the free,' 
preferring white treason to sable loyalty. 1 rather vote death 
the penalty for the chief traitor, all honor and reward for our 
soldiery, .md a ballot, safety, and justice for the poor." 

On the loth of January the discussion was continued by Mr. 
Kasson, of [owa, who said : " Much ha- been -aid in this debate 
about the gallantry of the negro troops, and about the number 
of negro troops in the war. Gentlemen have declared here so 
broadly that we were indebted to them for our victories a- to ac- 
tually convey the impression that they won nearly all the s'icto- 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

ries accomplished by the armies of the United States, and that to 
them are we indebted for the salvation of our country and our 
triumph over the rebellion. 

"I do not agree with them in the extent of their praise, nor 
the grounds upon which it has been placed. One gentleman, 1 
think it was the gentleman from Pennsylvania, speaks of our debt 
to the negroes, because they have fought our battles for us. This 
is a falsification of the condition of the negroes, and of the history 
of the country in this particular. Those negroes fought for their 
liberty, which was involved in the preservation of the Union of 
the States. They fought with us to accomplish the maintenance 
of the integrity of the country, which carried with it the liberty 
of their own race; and what would have been said of the negroes 
if they had not, under such circumstances, come forward and 
united with us? While I yield to the negro troops the credit of 
having exhibited bravery and manhood when put to the test, I 
do not yield to them the exclusive or chief credit of having won 
the victory for the Government of my country in preserving this 
Union. Let us not, under false assertions of fact, send out to 
the country and the world from this floor the declaration that the 
white race of this country are wanting in the gallantry, the de- 
votion, and the patriotism which ultimately secured for our armies 
triumph, and for our nation perpetuity. 

" Unless intelligence exists in this country, unless schools are 
supported and education diffused throughout the country, our in- 
stitutions are not safe, and either anarchy or despotism will be the 
result; and when you propose substantially to introduce at once 
three-quarters of a million or a million of voters, the great mass 
of whom are ignorant and unable to tell when the ballot they 
vote is right side up, then I protest against such an alarming in- 
fusion of ignorance into the ballot-box, into that sacred palladium, 
as we have always called it, of the liberties of our country. Let 
us introduce them by fit degrees. Let them come in as fast as 
they are fit, and their numbers will not shock the character of our 
institutions. 

"I turn for a single moment to call attention to the philan- 
thropy of the proposition. If you introduce all without regard 
to qualification, without their being able to read or write, and 
thus to understand the questions on which they are to decide, 
what would be the effect? You will take away from them the 



74 THE THIRTY-Xl.YTIf CONGRESS. 

strongest incentive to learn to read or write. As a race, it is not 
accustomed to position and property; it has no homesteads, it has 
no stake in the country : and unless they arc required to be intel- 
ligent, and qualified to understand something about our institu- 
tions and our laws, and the questions which arc submitted to the 
people from time to time, you say then to them. ' No matter 
whether or not you make progress in civilization or education, 
vou >hall have all the rights of citizenship/ and in that way you 
takeaway from them all special motive to education and improve- 
ment. On the contrary, if the ability to read and write and un- 
derstand the ballot i- made the qualification on the part of th< 
people to exercise the right of voting, the remaining portion will 
see that color i.- not exclusion. They would all aspire to the 
qualification itself as preliminary to the act. You can submit no 
motive to that race so powerful for the purpose of developing in 
them the education and intelligence required. 

"I say, therefore, on whatever grounds you put it. whether you 
regard the safety of our institutions or the light of philanthropy, 
vou should insist on qualifications substantially the same as t' ■ 
required in the State of Massachusetts. And let me -ay that, 
taking the State of Massachusetts as an example of the result of 
general intelligence and qualified suffrage, and a careful guardian- 
ship of the ballot-box, I know of no more illustrious example in 
this or any other country of it< importance. 

■•With a credit that surpa<-es that of the United States, with 
a historv that i< surpassed by no State in the Union, with wealth 
that i- almost fabulous in proportion to its population, with a 
prosperity almost unknown in the history of the world, that State 
stands before us to-day in all her dignity, strength, wealth, intel- 
ligence, and virtue. And if we. by adopting similar principles in 
other Stale-, can secure such results, we certainly have an indue, - 
incut to consider well how far this condition is to he attributed to 
her diffused education, and to the provisions of her constitution." 
\t the close of Mr. Kasson's speech, a colloquy occurred be- 
tween him and his colleague, Mr. Price, eliciting the fact that the 
question of negro suffrage in Iowa had been Bquarely before the 

people Of that State in the late fall election, and their vote had 

been in favor of the measure by a majority "f Bixteen thousand. 

Mr. Julian, of In. liana, having obtained the floor near the hour 

of adjournment, made his argument on the following .lay, when 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 75 

the consideration of the question was resumed. In answer to the 
objection that negro voting would "lead to the amalgamation of 
the races or social equality," he said: "On this subject there is 
nothing left to conjecture, and no ground for alarm. Negro suf- 
frage has been very extensively tried in this country, and we are 
able to appeal to tacts. Negroes had the right to vote in all the 
Colonies save one, under the Articles of Confederation. They 
voted, I believe, generally, on the question of adopting the Con- 
stitution of the United States. They have voted ever since in 
Xew York and the New England States, save Connecticut, in 
which the practice was discontinued in 1818. They voted in 
Xew Jersey till the year 1840; in Virginia and Maryland till 
1833; in Pennsylvanii till 1838; in Delaware till 1831; and in 
North Carolina and Tennessee till 1836. I have never under- 
stood that in all this experience of negro suffrage the amalgama- 
tion of the races was the result. I think these evils are not at all 
complained of to this day in New England and New York, where 
negro suffrage is still practiced and recognized by law." 

In answer to the argument that a "war of races" might en- 
sue, Mr. Julian said: "Sir, a war of races in this country can 
only be the result of denying to the negro his rights, just as such 
wars have been caused elsewhere; and the late troubles in Jamaica 
should teach us, if any lesson can, the duty of dealing justly with 
our millions of freedmen. Like causes must produce like results. 
English law made the slaves of Jamaica free, but England failed 
to enact other laws making their freedom a blessing. The old 
spirit of domination never died in the slave-master, but was only 
maddened by emancipation. For thirty years no measures were 
adopted tending to protect or educate the freedmen. At length, 
and quite recently, the colonial authorities passed a whipping act. 
then a law of eviction for people of color, then a law imposing 
heavy impost duties, bearing most grievously upon them, and 
finally a law providing for the importation of coolies, thus taxing 
the freedmen for the very purpose of taking the bread out of the 
mouths df their own children! I believe it turns out, after all, 
thai these outraged people even then did not rise up against the 
local government ; but the white ruffians of the island, goaded on 
by their own unchecked rapacity, and availing themselves of the 
infernal pretext of a black insurrection, perpetrated deeds of 
rapine and vengeance that find no parallel anywhere, save in the 



76 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS, 

- of their natural allies, the late slave-breeding rebels, against 
mir flag. Sir, is there no warning here against the policy of 
leaving our freedmen to the tender mercies of their old masters' 
A iv the white rebels of this District any better than the Jamaica 
villains to whom 1 have referred? The late report of General 
Schurz gives evidence of some important facts which will doubt- 
less apply here. The mass of the white people in the South, he 
says, arc totally destitute of any national feeling. The same big- 
1 sectionalism that swayed them prior to the war is almost 
universal. Nor have they any feeling of the enormity of treason 
as a crime. To them it is not odious, as very naturally it would 
cot be, under the policy which foregoes the punishment of traitors, 
and gives so many of them the chief places of power in the South. 
Ajid their hatred of the negro to-day is as intense and scathing and 
as universal as before the war. I believe it to be even more - >. 
The proposition to educate him and elevate his condition is every- 
where met with contempt and scorn. They acknowledge thi ( 
slavery, as it once existed, is overthrown; but the continued in- 
feriority and subordination of the colored race, under some form 
of vassalage or serfdom, is regarded by them as certain. Sir, tl 
have no thought of any thin-else; and if the ballot shall be with- 
held from the freedmen after the withdrawal of military po\i 
the most revolting forms of oppression and outrage will be prac- 
ticed, resulting, at last, in that very war of races which is foolishly 
apprehended as the effect of giving the negro his rights." 

A serious question confronted Mr. Julian, namely: How could 
Representatives from States which negroes by constitutional pro- 
vision are forbidden to enter, be expected to vote for n< gro sufirs 
in this District? He said: " In seeking to meet this difficulty, 
several considerations must he borne in mind. In the first pla , 
the demand for negro suffrage in this District rests not alone upon 
the general -round of right, of democratic equality, but upon pe- 
culiar reasons superinduced by the late war, which make it an 
immediate practical issue, involving not merely the welfare of the 
colored man. but the safety of society itself, [f civil government 
is to be revived at all in the South, it i> perfectly -elf-evident that 
the loyal men there must vote; hut the loyal men are the negroes; 
ami th<' disloyal are tin- whites To put back the governing power 
into the hands of the very men who broughl on the war. ami ex- 
clude those who have proved themselves the true friend- of the 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 77 

country, would be utterly suicidal and atrociously unjust. Negro 
suffrage in the districts lately in revolt is thus a present political 
necessity, dictated by the selfishness of the white loyalist as well 
as his sense of justice. But in our Western States, in which the 
negro population is relatively small, and the prevailing sentiment 
of their white people is loyal, no such emergency exists. Society 
will not he endangered by the temporary postponement of the 
right of negro suffrage till public opinion shall render it prac- 
ticable, and leaving the question of suffrage in the loyal States 
he decided bv them on its merits. Tf Indiana had gone out of her 
proper place in the Union, and her loyal population hail been found 
too weak to force her hack into it without negro bullets and bay- 
onets, and it", after thus coercing- her again into her constitutional 
orbit, her loyalist- had. been found unable to hold her there with- 
out negro ballots, the question of negro suffrage in Indiana would 
most obviously have been very different from the comparatively 
abstract one which it now is. It would, it is true, have involved 
the question of justice to the negroes of Indiana, but the tran- 
scendently broader and more vital question of national salvation 
also. Let me add further, that should Congress pass this hill, 
and should the ballot he given to the negroes in the sunny South 
generally, those in our Northern and Western States, many of them 
at least, may return to their native land and its kindlier skies, and 
thus quiet the nerves of conservative gentlemen who dread too 
(lose a proximity to those whose -kin-, owing to some providential 
( versight, wen 1 somehow or other not stamped with the true 
orthodox luster. 

'"The ballot should be given to the negroes as a matter of 
justice to them. It should likewise he done as a matter of retrib- 
tire justice to the slaveholders and rebels. According to the 
best information 1 can obtain, a very large majority of the white 
people of this District have keen rebels in heart during the war, 
and are rebels in heart still. That contempt for the negro and 
scorn of free industry, which constituted the mainspring of the 
hellion, cropped out here during the war in every form that 
was possible, under the immediate shadow of the central Govern- 
ment. Meaner rebels than many in this District could scarcely 
have been found in the whole land. They have not hem pun- 
ished. The halter has been cheated out of their necks. I am 
very sorry to say that under what seems to be a false mercy, a 



78 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

misapplied humanity, the guiltiest rebels of the war have thus 
far been allowed to escape justice. I have no desire to censure 
the authorities "{"the Government for this fact. I hope they 
have some valid excuse for their action. This question of pun- 
ishment I know is a difficult one. The work of punishment is 
SO vast that it naturally palsies the will to enter upon it. It 
ir can be thoroughly done <»n this side of the grave. And 
were it practicable to punish adequately all the most active and 
guilty rebels, justice would still remain unsatisfied. Far guiltier 
men than they are the rebel sympathizers of the loyal States, who 
coolly stood by and encouraged their friends in the Smith in their 
work of national rapine and murder, and while they were ever 
ready to go joyfully into the service of the devil, were too cow- 
ardly t<» wear his uniform and carry his weapons in open day. 
But Congress in this District has the power to punish by ballot, 
and there will he a beautiful, poetic justice in the exercise of this 
power. Sir, let it be applied. The rebels here will recoil from 
it with horror. Some of the worst of them, sooner than submit 
to black suffrage, will doubtless leave the District, and thus render 
it an unspeakable service. To be voted down and governed by 
Yankee and negro ballots will seem to them an intolerable griev- 
ance, and this is among the excellent reasons why I am in favor 
of it. If neither hanging nor exile can be extemporized for the 
entertainment of our dome-tie rebels, let us require them at least 
to make their bed on negro ballot- during the remainder of their 
unworthy lives. Of course they will not relish it, but that will 
be their own peculiar concern. Their darling institution must 
be charged with all the consequences of the war. They -owed 
the wind, and, if required, must reap the whirlwind. Retribu- 
tion follows wrong-doing, and this law must work out it- results. 
Rebels and their sympathizers, I am sure, will fare as well under 
uegro suffrage as they deserve, and I desire to leave them, as far 
as practicable, in the hand- of their colored brethren. Nor .-hall 
1 -top to inquire very critically whether the negroes are fit to vote. 
A- between themselves and white rebel.-, who deserve to be hung, 
they are eminently tit. I would not have them more so. Will 
you, Mr. Speaker, will even my conservative and Democratic 
friends, l>e particularly nice or fastidious in the choice of a man 
to vote down a rebdf Shall we insist upon a perfectly finished 
gentleman and scholar to vote down the traitors and white trash 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 79 

of tliis District, who have recently signalized themselves by mob- 
bing unoffending negroes? Sir, almost any body, it seems to me, 
will answer the purpose. I do not pretend that the colored men 
here, should they get the ballot, will not sometimes abuse it. 
They will undoubtedly make mistakes. In some eases they may 
even vote on the side of their old masters. But I feel pretty safe 
in saying that even white men, perfectly free from all suspicion 
of negro blood, have sometimes voted on the wrong side. Sir, I 
appeal to gentlemen on this floor, and especially to my Demo- 
cratic friends, to say whether they can not call to mind instances 
in which white men have voted wrong? Indeed, it rather strikes 
me that white voting, ignorant, depraved, party-ridden, Democratic 
white voting, had a good deal to do in hatching into life the re- 
bellion itself, and that no results of negro voting arc likely to be 
much worse." 

After an hour occupied by Mr. Randall and Mr. Kelley, both 
of Pennsylvania, in a colloquial discussion of the history and 
present position of their State upon the subject of negro suffrage, 
Mr. Thomas, of Maryland, addressed the House. After setting 
forth the injustice the passage of the bill would work toward the 
people of his State, he said : 

"If I believed that the matter of suffrage was the only mode 
to help the negro in his elevation, and the only safeguard to his 
protection, or guarantee to his rights, I would be Avilling to give 
it to him now, subject to proper qualifications and restrictions. 
But I am honest in my conviction that, uneducated and ignorant 
as he is, a slave from his birth, and subject to the will and caprice 
of his master, with none of the exalted ideas of what that privi- 
lege means, and with but a faint conception of the true position 
he now occupies, the negro is not the proper subject to have con- 
ferred upon him this right. I believe if it is given to him, that 
in localities where his is the majority vote, parties will spring up, 
each one bidding higher than the other for his ballot, and that 
in the end the negro-voting element will be controlled by a few 
evil and wicked politicians, and as something to be bought and 
sold as freely as an article of merchandise. I am satisfied of 
another fact, from my experience of the Southern negro, that if 
they are ever allowed to vote, the shrewd politician of the South, 
who has been formerly his master, will exert more influence over 
his vote than all the exhortations from Beecher or Cheever. 



30 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRE& 

"It is a Dotorious fact that the Southern planter maintained 
his political influence over the poor white man of the South, 
use the poor white man was dependent on him for his living 
and support. And you will find, when it i- t . >< » late, that the 
Southern planter will maintain the same political influence over 
the poor, uneducated, ignorant, and dependent African, even t<> 
:i greater extent than he formerly exercised over what used to he 
called the ' poor white trash.' 

'•Mr. Speaker, let us not, because we have t; jority here 

to-day, pass upon measures which, if we were evenly divided. 
we would hesitate to pass. Let us not. because we are called 
radical-, strike at the roots of society, and of the great social 
and political systems that have existed for over a century, and 
attempt to do in a day, without any preparation, what, to do well 
and safely, will require years of patience on the part of the freed- 
i,h n. and earnest, honesl exertions to elevate, improve, and edu- 
cate on our part. Let us look at this question a- statesmen, not 
as partisans. Let us not suppose that the parties of to-day will 
have a perpetual existence, and that because the negro, freed and 
emancipated by us, would naturally vote on the side of hi- deliv- 
erer to-day, that it i- any guarantee, when new parties are formed 
and a competition arises, that the whole or the major part of his 
vote will he cast on the right side. White men ami black men 
arc liable to the same infirmities. 

"Let ns rather, sir. rejoice at what has been already done for 
him, and he content to watch his future. Lei ns help to i levate 
and improve him. not only in education, hut in morals. Let us 
to it that he i- not only protected in all his rights of person 
and of property, hut let us insist that the amplest guarantees 
-hall he given. Let us wait until the great problem the African 
i- now working out ha- been finished, and we find that he thor- 
oughly comprehends and will not* abuse what he ha- got, before 
we attempt to confer other privileges, which, when once granted, 
i .ii never be taken from him. Sir, let it not be forgotten that 
'revolution- never go backward;' and if you ever confer this 
right "U the negro, and find it will not work well, that you have 
been i<>" hasty, that you should have waited awhile longer, you 
will find it i- too late, and that, once having possessed it. they 
will not part with it excepl with their lives." 



DISTR TC T OF COL UMB1. 1. 81 

On the 17th of January the debate was resumed by Mr. Dar- 
ling, of New York, who remarked: 

-What public necessity exists fur the passage of this hill at 
this time? There are no benefits which the colored people of 
this District could attain by the exercise of the right of suffrage 
that Congress could not bestow. Our right and power to legis- 
late for this District are unquestioned, and instead of wasting 
days and weeks over a question which is exciting bitter feeling 
among our own people, had we not better give our attention 
to matters of great national interest which so urgently demand 
speedy action on our part? Let us pass laws for the education 
of the people of this District, and fit them ultimately to receive 
the elective franchise; or, if any thing is required to satisfy the 
intense desire, manifested by some gentlemen of this House, to 
bestow the franchise on those not now possessed of it, give it to 
every soldier who served in the Union Army and was honorably 
discharged, whether old or young, rich or poor, native or foreign- 
born, white or black, and show to the world that the American 
people, recognizing the services and sufferings of their brave 
defenders, give them, as a recognition, the highest and best gift 
of American citizenship. 

"If I know myself, I know that no unjust or unmanly preju- 
dice warps my judgment or controls my action on any matter 
of legislation affecting the colored race on this continent. I 
believe in their equality of rights before the law with the domi- 
nant race. I believe in their rights of life, liberty, and the pur- 
suit of happiness. And yet I believe that, before w< confer upon 
them the political right of suffrage, as contemplated by the bill 
now under consideration, we should seek to elevate their social 
condition, and lift them up from the depths of degradation and 
ignorance in which many of them are left by the receding waves 
of the sea of rebellion. There are many strong objections to 
conferring upon the colored men of this District the gift of un- 
qualified suffrage without any qualification based on intelligence. 
The large preponderance which they possess numerically will 
inevitably lead to mischievous results. Neither would I entirely 
disregard the views of the people of this District, many of whom 
I know to be sound, loyal Union men. 

" But I do not wish to see the Union party take any step in 
this direction from which they may desire hereafter to recede. 
6 



Til E Til I R 7 J '-. \ 7. V 77/ ro.\ 7/ R ESS. 

Let us first rather seek to enlighten this people, and educate them 
to know the value of the great gift of liberty which has been 
bestowed upon them; teach them to know that to labor is for 
their best interests; teach them to learn and lead virtuous and 
industrious lives, in order to make themselves respected, and 
encourage them to act as becomes freemen. Then they will vote 
intelligently, and not be subject to the control of designing men. 
who would seek to use them for the attainment of their own 
selfish ends. 

" Now. Mr. Speaker, in conclusion I desire to say that, as ii" 
election will take place in this District until next June, then' can 
he no reason lor special haste in the passage of this hill, and that 
there is a proposition before this House, which seems to he received 
with very general favor, to create a commission for the govern- 
ment of this city ; and. in order to give an opportunity to mature 
a hill for that purpose, and have it presented for the considera- 
tion of this House, I move the postponement of the [lending hill 
until the first Tuesday in April next." 

At a previous stage of the discussion of this measure, Mr. Hale 
had proposed amendments to the hill. These amendments were 
now the subject under discussion. They were in the following 
words: 

"Amend the motion to recommit by adding to that motion an instruction 
to the committee to amend the hill so as to extend the right of suffrage in the 
District of Colombia to all persons coming within either of the following 
classes, irrespective of caste or color, but subject only to existing provisions 

and qualifications other than those founded on caste or color, to wit: 

"1. Those who can read the Constitution of the United States 

"2, Those who are assessed for and pay taxes on real or personal property 

within the District. 

" 3. Those who have served in and Keen honorably discharged from the 

military or naval service of the United States. 

\nd to restrict such right of suffrage to the classes above named, and to 

include proper provisions excluding from the right of suffrage those who 

have borne arms against the United States during the late rebellion, or given 

aid and comfort to said rebellion 

At the close of Mr. Darling's remarks, in which he had moved 
to postpone the whole subject, Mr. Hale, of New York, having 
argued at considerable length in favor of the several clauses of 
his proposed amendment, remarked: "Of the details of my 
amendment I am by no means tenacious. I do not expect to 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. S3 

bring every member of the House, or even every member on this 
side of the House, to concur in all my own views. I desire sim- 
ply to put my measures fairly before the House, and to advocate 
them as [ best can. I am ready and willing to yield my own 
preferences in matters of detail to their better judgment. More 
than that, I shall not follow the example that has been set by 
some on this side of the House who oppose my amendment, and 
who claim to be the peculiar friends of negro suffrage, by pro- 
claiming that I will adhere to the doctrine of qualified suffrage, 
and will join our political enemies, the Democrats, in voting down 
every thing else. No, sir; for one, and I say it with entire frank- 
ness, I prefer a restricted and qualified suffrage substantially upon 
the basis that [ have proposed. If the voice of this House be 
otherwise — if the sentiment of this Congress be that it is more 
desirable that universal suffrage should be extended to all within 
this District, then, for one, I say most decidedly I am for it rather 
than to leave the matter in its present condition, or to disfranchise 
the black race in this District." 

Mr. Thayer, of Pennsylvania, spoke as follows: "The propo- 
sition contained in this bill is a new proposition. It contemplates 
a change which will be a landmark in the history of this coun- 
try — a landmark which, if it is set up, will be regarded by the 
present and future generations of men who are to inhabit this 
continent with pride and satisfaction, or deplored as one of the 
gravest errors in the history of legislation. The bill, if it shall 
become a law, will be, like the law to amend the Constitution by 
abolishing slavery, the deep foot-print of an advancing civiliza- 
tion, or the conspicuous monument of an unwise and pernicious 
experiment. 

" Much has been said, on the part of those who oppose the bill, 
on the subject of its injustice to the white inhabitants of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. Indeed, the argument on that side of the 
question is, when divested of all that is immaterial, meretricious, 
and extravagant, reduced almost entirely to that single position. 
Abstract this from the excited declamation to which you have 
listened, and what is left is but the old revolting argument in 
favor of slavery, and a selfish appeal to prejudice and ignorance. 
It is insisted that a majority of the white voters of the District 
are opposed to the contemplated law, that they have recently 
given a public expression of their opinion against it, and that for 



84 THE THIRTY-NINTH. CONGRESS 

that reason it would be unjust and oppressive in Congress to pass 
this law. [n my judgment, this is a question not concerning alone 
the wishes and prejudices of the seven thousand voter- who dwell 
in this District, but involving, it may be, the honor, thejustic , 
the ffood faith, and the magnanimity of the greal nation which 
makes this little spol the central 3eat of it- empire and its power. 

"If it concerns the honor of the United States thai a certain 
class of its people, in a portion of it- territory subject to its ex- 
clusive jurisdiction and control, -hall, in consideration of the 
change which has taken place in it- condition, and of the fidelity 
which it has exhibited in the midst of great and - trials, be 

elevated somewhat above the political degradation which has 
hitherto been its lot, shall the United States be prevented from 
the accomplishment of that great and generous purpose by the 
handful of voters who temporarily encamp under the shadow of 
the Capitol? Tt may be that the det irmination of a question of 
so much importance as this belongs rather to the people of th • 
United Stair-, through their Representatives in Congress assem- 
bled, than to th" present qualified voter- of this District. Sir, 
the iield of inquiry is much wider than the District of Columbia, 
and the problem to he solved one in which not they alone an' in- 
terested. When Congress determined that the time had come 
when slavery should lie abolished in this District, and the capital 
of the nation should no longer he disgraced by it< presence, did 
it pause in the great work of justice to which it laid it< hand to 
hear from the mayor of Washington, or to inquire whether the 
masters would vote for if.' It is not difficult to conjecture what 
the fate of that greal measure would have been had it- adoption 
or rejection depended upon the voter- of this District. 

"Shall we be told, sir, that if the Representatives of the people 
of twenty-five State- are of the opinion that the law- and insti- 
tutions which exist in the seat of Government of the United 
State- ought to he changed, that tiny are not to he changed be- 
cause a majority of the voters who reside here do not desire that 
change? Will any man say that the voices of these seven thou- 
sand voter- are to outweigh the voices of all the constituencies 
of the United States in the capital of their country? I dismiss 
this objection, therefore, a- totally destitute of reason or weight. 
It i- based upon a fallacy so feeble that it is dissipated by the 
bare touch of the Constitution to it. 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 85 

"Whatever is the duty of the United States to do, that is for 

their interest to do. The two great facts written in history by 
the iron hand of the late war are, first, that the Union is indis- 
soluble, and second, that human slavery is here forever abolished. 
From these two facts consequences corresponding in importance 
with the facts themselves must result: from the former, a more 
vigorous and powerful nationality; from the latter, the elevation 
and improvement of the race liberated by the war from bondage, 
as well as a higher and more advanced civilization in the region 
where the change has taken place. It is impossible to say that 
the African race occupies to-day the same position in American 
affairs and counts no more in weight than it did before the rebell- 
ion. You can not strike the fetters from the limbs of four mill- 
ion men and leave them such as yon found them. As wide as 
is the interval between a freeman and a slave, so wide is the dif- 
ference between the African race before the rebellion and after 
the rebellion. Yon can not keep to its ancient level a race which 
has been released from servitude any more than you can keep 
back the ocean with your hand after you have thrown down the 
sea-wall which restrained its impatient tides. Freedom is every- 
where in history the herald of progress. It is written in the 
annals of all nations. It is a law of the human race. Ignorance, 
idleness, brutality — these belong to slavery; they are her natural 
offspring and allies, and the gentleman from New York, [Mr. 
Chanler,] who consumed so much time in demonstrating the com- 
parative inferiority of the black race, answered his own argument 
when he reminded us that the Constitution recognized the negro 
only as a slave, and gave us the strongest reason why we should 
now begin to recognize him as a freeman. Sir, I do not doubl 
that the negro race is inferior to our own. That is not the ques- 
tion. You do not advance an inch in the argument after you 
have proved that premise of your case. You must show that 
they are not only inferior, but that they are so ignorant and de- 
graded that they can not be safely intrusted with the smallest 
conceivable part of political power and responsibility, and that 
this is the case not on the plantations of Alabama and Missis- 
sippi, but here in the District of Columbia. Nay. you must not 
only prove that this is the general character of this population 
hen', but that this condition i- so universal and unexceptional 
that you can not allow them to take tin- first step in freedom, 



86 THE THIi;T)--.YLYTH CONGRESS. 

although it may be hedged about with qualifications and condi- 
tions; for which of you who have opposed this measure on the 
ground of race has proposed to give the beuefil of it to such as 
may be found worthy? Not one of you. And this shows that 
your objection is founded really on a prejudice, although it as- 
sumes tin' dignity and proportions of an argument. The real 
question, sir, is, can we afford to be just — nay, if you pie: • . gen- 
erous — to a race whose shame has beeu washed out in the con- 
suming tin- of war, and which now stands erect ami equal before 
the law with our own? Shall we give hope and encouragement 
t" that race beginning, as it does now for the first time, it- career 
of freedom, by erecting here in the capital of the republic a ban- 
ner inscribed with the sacred legend of the elder days, 'All nan 
are born free and equal?' or shall we unfurl in it- -trad that other 
banner, with a strange device, around which the dissolving rem- 
nant- of the Democratic party in this hall are called upon to 
rally, inscribed with n<> great sentiment of justice or generosity, 
but bearing upon it- folds the miserable appeal of the demagogue, 
'This i- a white man's Government? 5 When you inaugurate 
your newly-discovered political principle, do not forget to invite 
the colored troops; beat the assembly; call out the remnants of 
the one hundred and eighty thousand men who marched with 
steady step through the flame- and carnage of war. and many of 
whom hear upon their bodies the honorable sears received in that 
unparalleled struggle and in your defense, and a- you -end your 
banner down the line, say to them, 'This i- the reward of a gen- 
erous country for the wounds you have received and the sufferii 

you have endured.' 

"Shall we follow the great law to which 1 have referred — the 
law that liberty is progress— and conform our policy to the spirit 
of thai greal law'.' or -hall we. governed by unreasonable and 
selfish prejudices, initiate a policy which will make this race our 
hereditary enemy, a mine beneath instead of a buttress to the 
edifice which you are endeavoring to repair? Sir, 1 do not hesi- 
tate to say that, in my opinion, it were better to follow where 
conscience and justice point, leaving results to a higher Power, 
than to shrink from an issue which it i- the clear intention of 
Providence we -hall face, or to be driven from our true course by 
the chimera- which the excited imaginations of political partisans 
hav injured up. or by the misty g] i sts of long-buried errors." 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 87 

Mr. Van Horn, of New York, while willing to accept the bill 
as originally presented, preferred it as modified by Mr. Hale's 
amendments. In his speech he charged those who had opposed 
the bill as laboring in the interest of slavery. 

"They seem to have forgotten," he said, " in their advocacy of 
slavery, that we have passed through a tierce war, begun by 
slavery, waged against the Government by slavery, and solely in 
its interest to more thoroughly establish itself upon the Western 
( lontinent, and crush out the best interests of freedom and human- 
ity ; and that this war, guided on our part by the omnipotent arm 
of the Invisible, made bare in our behalf, has resulted in a most 
complete overthrow of this great wrong; and by the almost om- 
nipotent voice of the republic, as now expressed in its fundamental 
law, it has no right to live, much less entitled to the right of burial, 
and should have no mourners in the land or going about the street-. 
Such speeches as those of the gentlemen from Xew Jersey, [Mr. 
Rogers,] and from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Boyer,] and my colleague 
and friend, [Mr. ('hauler,] who represents, with myself, in part, 
the Empire State, carry us back to the days and scenes before the 
war, when slavery ruled supreme, not only throughout the land, 
by and through its hold upon power, which the people in an evil 
hour had given it, but here in these halls of legislation, where 
liberty and its high and noble ends ought to have been secured 
by just and equal laws, and the great and paramount object of 
our system of government carried out and fully developed. They 
seem to forget that liberty and good government have been on trial 
during these five years last past of war and blood, and that they 
have succeeded in the mighty struggle. They forget that Provi- 
dence, in a thousand ways, during this fierce conflict, has given us 
evidence <>f his favor, and led us out of the land of bondage into 
a purer and higher state of freedom, where slavery, as an institu- 
tion among us, is no more. Why do they labor so long and so 
ardently to resurrect again into life this foul and loathsome thing ? 
Why can not they forget their former love and attachments in this 
direction, and no longer cling with such undying grasp to this 
dead carcass, which, by its corruptions and rottenness, lias well 
nigh heretofore poisoned them to the death? Why not awake to 
the new order of things, and accept the results which God has 
worked out in our recent struggle, and not raise the weak arm 
of flesh to render null and void what has thus been done, and 



88 THE 77////7T-.\7.\77/ COXGRES 

thus attempt to turn back the flow of life which is overspread- 
ing all, and penetrating every part of the body politic with its 
noble purposes and exalted hopes? 

Thursday, Jauuary 18, was die last day of the discussion of 
this important measure in the House of Representatives. When 
the subject was in order, Mr. Clarke of Kansas, "as the only 
Representative upon the floor of a State whose whole history had 
been a continual protest against political injustice and wrong," 
after having advocated the bill by arguments drawn from the 
history of the country and the record of the oegro race, remarked 
as follows: "This cry of poverty and ignorance is not new. 1 
remember that those who first followed the Son of man, the Savior 
of the world, were not the learned rabbis, not the enlightened 
scholar, not the rich man or the pious Pharisee. They were the 
poor and needy, the peasant and the fisherman. I remember, also, 
that the more learned the slaveholder, the greater the rebel. I 
remember that no black skin covered so false a heart or misdirected 
brain, that when the radiant banner of our nationality was near 
or before him, he did not understand its meaning, and remained 
loyal to its demands. The man capable of taking care of himself, 
of wife and children, and, in addition to his unrequited toil, to 
hold up his oppressor, musl have intelligence enough, in the Ion- 
run, to wield the highest means of protection we can give. 

" But, sir, it is for our benefit, as well as for the benefit of the 
proscribed class, that I vote for and support impartial manhood 
suffrage in this District. We can not afford, as a nation, to keep 
any class ignorant or oppress the weak. W'c must establish here 
republican government. That which wrongs one man. in the end 
recoils on the many. Sir. if we accept, as the Republican party 
of the Union, our true position and our duty, we shall nobly win. 
If we are false and recreant, we shall miserably fail. Let us have 
faith in the people and the grand logic of a mighty revolution, 
and dare to do right. Class legislation will he the inevitable 
result of class power j ami what would follow. SO far as the col- 
ored race are concerned, lei the recenl tragedy of Jamaica answer. 
"The principles involved in the arguments put forth on the 
other side of the House are not alone destructive to the rights 
of the defenseless, intelligent, and patriotic colored men of this 
District, Inn they militate with a double effect and stronger pur- 
pose against the poor whites of the North and of the South, against 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. SO 

the German, the Irishman, and the poor and oppressed of every 
race, \x\\o come to our shores to escape the oppression of despotic 
governments, and to seek the protection of a Government the true 
theory of which reposes in every citizen a portion of its sovereign 
power. A.gainst this attempt to deny or abridge in any way the 
rights of* the weak, the poor, and the defenseless, and to transfer 
the governing power of the nation to the favored classes, to the 
rich and the powerful, and thus change the very purpose and 
principles of our republican system, I protest in the name of con- 
stitutional freedom, and in behalf of equal rights and equal laws. 

"I protest against this stealthy innovation upon popular rights, 
in the name of the toiling millions of the land; and I warn the 
House and the country of the untold mischief and disaster which 
must come to distract and divide the republic in the future, if we 
follow the pernicious and destructive doctrines founded upon either 
the prejudices of class, caste, wealth, or power. I protest in the 
name of a constituency whose early history was a sublime and 
persistent struggle against the prejudices of pampered and arro- 
gant ruffianism at home, and the worse than ruffian spirit of the 
Administrations of Pierce and Buchanan, and the Democratic! 
traitors who at that time constituted a majority of this House, 
and were engaged in preparing the nation for its harvest of blood. 
We must go back to the spirit and purposes of the founders of our 
Government. We must accept the grand logic of the mighty 
revolution from which we are now emerging. We must repudi- 
ate, now and forever, these assaults upon the masses of the people 
and upon the fundamental principles of popular rights. I accept 
in their full force and effect the principles of the Declaration of 
Independence, and by constitutional amendment and law of Con- 
gress I would stamp them with, irrevocable power upon the polit- 
ical escutcheon of the new and regenerated republic. I would 
avoid the mistakes of the past, and I would spurn that cringing 
timidity by which, through all history, liberty has been sacrificed 
and humanity betrayed. 

" Sir, I hesitate not to say that if we do not gather up, in the 
process of national reconstruction, the enduring safeguards of future 
peace, we shall be false to our history and unmindful of the grand 
responsibilities now devolving upon us. The establishment <A' 
impartial suffrage in this District will be a fitting commence- 
ment of the work. It will be hailed by the friend- of freedom 



00 THE THIRTY-NINTH. CONGRESS. 

every-where as a return to a policy <»f national justice too long 
delayed. In behalf of the State I have the honor to represent, 
and upon whose soil tin- contest for a larger liberty and a nobler 
nationality was first submitted to the arbitrament of arms, I hail 
this measure with feelings of satisfaction and pride. It is the 
legitimate result of the courage and fidelity of the hardy pioneers 
of Kansas in 1856, who dared to face the blandishment of power 
and the arrogance and brutality of slavery when compromisers 
trembled, and Northern sycophants of an oligarchic despotism, 
then, as now, scowled and fretted at the progress of free prin- 
ciples." 

Mr. Johnson, of Pennsylvania, alter having adduced a variety 
of arguments against the bill, finally said: "Sir, we hear a tre- 
mendous outcry in this House in favor of popular government 
and about the guarantee of the Constitution of the United State- 
to the several States that they shall have republican governments. 
How are the poor people of this District to have a republican 
form of government if gentlemen who have come to this city, per- 
haps for the first time in their lives, undertake to control them as 
absolutely ami arbitrarily as Louis Napoleon control- France or 
Maximilian Mexico"? Gentlemen ask. What right have they to 
hold an election and express their sentiments? What right have 
they to hold such an election? Surely they ought to have the 
right to petition, for their rulers are generally arbitrary enough. 

'• Mr. Speaker, it seems to me ridiculously inconsistent for gen- 
tlemen upon this floor to prate so much about a republican form 
of government, and rise here and oiler resolution after resolution 
about the Monroe doctrine and the downtrodden Mexicans, while 
they force upon the people of this District a government not of 
their own choice, because the voter in a popular government is a 

vernor himself But, sir, this is only pari of a grand plan. 
Gentlemen who dare not go before their white constituents and 
urge that a negro shall have a vote in their own States, come here 
and undertake to thrusl negro suffrage upon the people here. 
Gentlemen whose State- have repudiated the idea of giving the 
elective franchise to negroes, come here and are willing to give 
the suffrage to Degrees bere, a- if they intended to make this little 
District of Columbia a sort of negro Eden; as if they intended to 
say to the negroes of Virginia and Maryland and Delaware. 
• You have no right to vote in these State-, but if you will go to 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 91 

Washington you can vote there.' I imagine I can see thou 
swarming up from different sections of the country to this city 
and inquiring where the polls are. Agents, men and women, 
such as there are at work in this city, will no doubt be at work in 
these States, telling them to pack their knapsacks and march to 
Washington, for on such a day there is to be an election, and 
there they will have the glorious privilege of the white man. Sir, 
all this doctrine is destructive of the American system of govern- 
ment, which recognizes the right of no man to participate in it 
unless he is a citizen, which secures to the citizen his voice in the 
control and management of the Government, and prevents those 
not citizens from standing in the way of the exercise of his just 
rights. 

" This Government does not belong to any race so that it can be 
divested or disposed of. The present age have no right to termi- 
nate it. It is ours to enjoy and administer, and to transmit to 
posterity unimpaired as we received it from the fathers." 

Mr. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, then addressed the House: 
" When we emancipated the black people, we not only relieved 
ourselves from the institution of slavery, we not only conferred 
upon them freedom, but we did more, we recognized their man- 
hood, which, by the old Constitution and the general policy and 
usage of the country, had been, from the organization of the Gov- 
ernment until the Emancipation Proclamation, denied to all of the 
enslaved colored people. As a consequence of the recognition of 
their manhood, certain results follow in accordance with the prin- 
ciples of this Government, and they who believe in this Govern- 
ment are, by necessity, forced to accept those results as a conse- 
quence of the policy of emancipation which they have inaugurated 
and for which they are responsible. 

"But to say now, having given freedom to them, that they shall 
not enjoy the essential rights and privileges of men, is to abandon 
the principle of the proclamation of emancipation, and tacitly to 
admit that the whole emancipation policy is erroneous. 

"It has been suggested that it is premature to demand imme- 
diate action upon the question of negro suffrage in the District of 
Columbia. I am not personally responsible for the presence of 
the bill at the present time, but I am responsible for the observa- 
tion thai there never has been a day during a session of Congress 
since the Emancipation Proclamation, ay, since the negroes of this 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

District were emancipated, when it was not the duty of the Gov- 
ernment, which, by the Constitution, is intrusted with exclusive 
jurisdiction in this District, to confer upon the men of this 
trict, without distinction of race or color, the rights and privil 
of men. And, therefore, there can be uothing premature in tlii< 
measure, and I cai I see how any one who supports the Eman- 
cipation Proclamation, which i- a recognition of the manhood of 
the whole colored people of this country, can hesitate as t<> his 
duty; and while I make no suggestion as tu the duty of other 
men, I have a clear perception <>i' my own. And, first, we are 
bound in treat the colored people <>f this District, in regard to tit" 
matter of voting, precisely as we treat white people. And I do 
not hesitate to express the opinion that if the question here to-day 
were whether any qualification should be imposed upon white 
voters in this District, if they alone were concerned, tins House 
would not. ay, not ten men upon this floor would, consider whether 
any qualifications should he imposed or not. 

"Reading and writing, or reading, as a qualification, i> de- 
manded, and an appeal is made to the example of Massachusetts. 
1 wish gentlemen who now appeal to Massachusetts would often 
appeal to her in other matters where I can more conscientiously 
approve her policy. But it i- a different proposition in Massa- 
chusetts as a practical measure. When, ten years ago, this <|iiali- 
fication was imposed upon the people of Massachusetts, it excluded 
no person who was then a voter. For two centuries we have had 
in Massachusetts a system of public instruction open to the chil- 
dren of the whole people without money and without price. 
Thereforelall the people there had had opportunities for education. 
Now. why should the example of such a state he quoted to justify 
refusing suffrage to men who have been denied the privilege of 
education, and whom it has been a crime to teach? Is there n i 
difference? 

•' We are to answer tor our treatment of the colored people of 
this country, and it will prove in the end impracticable to secure 
tu men of color civil rights unless the persons who claim those 
rights arc fortified by the political right of voting. With the 
right of voting, every thing that a man ought to have or enjoy of 
civil rights comes to him. Without the right to vote, he i- secure 
in uothing. I can not consent, after all theguardsand safeguards 
which may he prepared for the defense of the colored men in the 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 03 

enioyment of their rights — I can not consent that they shall be 
deprived of the right to protect themselves. One hundred and 
eighty-six thousand of them have been in the army of tin; United 
State.-. They have stood in the place of our sons and brothers 
and friends. They have fallen in defense of the country. They 
have earned the right to share in the Government; and if you 
deny them the elective franchise, I know not how they are to be 
protected. Otherwise you furnish the protection which is given 
to the lamb when lie is commended to the wolf. 

"There is an ancient history that a sparrow pursued by a hawk 
took refuge in the chief assembly of Athens, in the bosom of a 
member of that illustrious body, and that the senator in anger 
hurled it violently from him. It fell to the ground dead, and 
such was the horror and indignation of that ancient but not 
Christianized body — men living in the light of nature, of rea- 
son — that they immediately expelled the brutal Areopagite from 
his seat, and from the association of humane legislators. 

kt What will be said of us, not by Christian, but by heathen 
nations even, if, after accepting the blood and sacrifices of these 
men, we hurl them from us and allow them to be the victims of 
those who have tyrannized over them for centuries? I know of 
no crime that exceeds this; I know of none that is its parallel; 
and if this country is true to itself, it will rise in the majesty of 
its strength and maintain a policy, here and evory-where, by 
which the rights of the colored people shall be secured through 
their own power — in peace, the ballot; in war, the bayonet. 

"It is a maxim of another language, which we may well apply 
to ourselves, that where the voting register ends the military ro- 
tor of rebellion begins; and if you leave these four million people 
to the care and custody of the men who have inaugurated and car- 
ried on this rebellion, then you treasure up for untold years the 
elements of social and civil war, which must not only desolate and 
paralyze the South, but shake this Government to its very founda- 
tion." 

Soon after the close of Mr. Boutwell's speech, Mr. Darling's 
motion to postpone and Mr. Hale'.- motion to amend having been 
rejected, a vote was taken on the bill as reported by the commit- 
tee. The bill passed by a vote of one hundred and sixteen in 
the affirmative — fifty-four voting in the negative. 

The friends of the measure having received evidence that it 



QJj, THE THIRT1 '-XI. \ ' TH C03\ 'G R E& 5 

would not meet with Executive approval, and not supposing that 
a vote of two-thirds could be secured for it- passage over the 
President's veto, determined not to urge it immediately through 
the Senate. 

There was great reluctance on the part of many Senators and 
members of the House to come to an open rupture with the 
President. They desired to defer the day of final and irrecon- 
cilable difference between Congress and the Executive, [f the 
subject of negro suffrage in the District of Columbia was kept in 
abeyance for a time, it was hoped that the President's approval 
might meanwhile be secured to certain great measures for pro- 
tecting the helpless and maintaining the civil rights of citizens. 
To accomplish these important ends, the suffrage bill was deterred 
many months. The will of the majority in Congress relating to 
this subject did not become a law until after the opening of the 
second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress. 



TEE FREEDMEN. 05 



CHAPTER V. 

THE FREEDMEN. 

Necessities of the Freedmen — Committee in the House — Early move- 
ment by the Senate in behalf of Freedmex — Senator Wilson's Bill — 
Occasion for it — Mr. Cowan moves its reference — Mr. Reverdy John- 
son ADVISES DELIBERATION A QUESTION OF TIME WITH Mr. SHERMAN Mr. 

Trumbull promises a more efficient bill — Mr. Sumner presents proof 
of the bad condition of affairs in the South — Mr. Cowan and Mr. 
Stewart produce the President as a witness for the defense — Mr. 
Wilson on the testimony — "Conservatism" — The bill absorbed in 
greater measures. 

THE necessities of three millions and a half of persons made 
free as a result of the rebellion demanded early and efficient 
legislation at the hands of the Thirty-ninth Congress. In 
vain did the Proclamation of Emancipation break their shackles, 
and the constitutional amendment declare them free, if Congress 
should not "enforce" these important acts by "appropriate legis- 
lation." 

The House of Representatives signified its view of the impor- 
tance of this subject by constituting an able Committee "on 
Freedmen," with Thomas D. Eliot, of Massachusetts, as its chair- 
man. The Senate, however, was first to take decided steps toward 
the protection and relief of freedmen. We have seen that on the 
first day of the session Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, intro- 
duced a bill "to maintain the freedom of the inhabitants in the 
States declared in insurrection and rebellion by the proclamation 
of the President of the 1st of July, 1862," of which the following 
is a copy: 

Be it enacted, etc., That all laws, statutes, acts, ordinances, rules and regu- 
lations, of any description whatsoever, heretofore in force or held valid in 
any of the States which were declared to be in insurrection and rebellion by 



nr; Til/-: THIRTY-NINTH CONGREh 

the proclamation of the President of t li • • 1st of July, 1862, whereby or 
wherein any inequality of civil rights and immunities anion:: the inhabitants 
of -aid Stat.- is recognized, authorized, established, or maintained, by reason 
or in consequence of any distinctions or differences of color, rare, or descent, 
or by reason or in consequence of a previous condition or status of Blavery 
or involuntary servitude of such inhabitants, be, and are hereby, declared 
null and void : and it shall be unlawful to institute, make, ordain, or establish, 
in any of the aforesaid States declared to be in insurrection and rebellion, 
any such law, statute, act, ordinance, rule, or regulation, or to enforce, or to 
attempt to enforce, the Bame 

1. And h itfxirther enacted^ That any person who shall violate either 
of the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty <>t' a misdemeanor, and 
shall he punished by a tine of not less than $500 nor exceeding $10,000, and 
l.v imprisonment nor less than six months nor exceeding five years; and it 
shall he the duty of the President to enforce the provisions of this act 

On tlir 13th of December, Mr. Wilson called up his hill, which 
the Senate proceeded to consider as in Committee <d' the Whole. 
The author of the hill presented reason- why it should become a 
law: '• A hill is pending before the Legislature of South Carolina 
making these freedmen .servants, providing that the persons for 
whom they labor shall he their masters ; that the relation between 
them shall he the relation of master and servant. The bill, as 
originally reported, provided that the freedmen might he educated. 
but that provision has already been stricken out, and the hill now 
lies over waiting for events here. That hill makes the colored 
people of South Carolina serfs, a degraded class, the -laves of 
society. It is far better to be the slave of one man than to he the 
slave of arbitrary law. There is no doubt of the fact that in a 
great portion of those States the high hopes, the confidence, and 
the joy expressed last spring by the freedmen, have passed away ; 
that silence and sorrow pervade that section of the country, and 
that they are becoming distrustful and discontented. <h>d grant 
that the high-raised expectations of these loyal and deserted people 
may not ho blasted. ( rod forbid that we should violate our plighted 
faith." 

Mr. Cowan moved the reference of the bill to the Committee 
on the Judiciary, but its author was unwilling that it should he 
so referred, since it was highly important that action should he 
had upon it before the holidays. 

Mr. Johnson -aid that the hill gave rise to grave questions on 

which it was very desirable that the deliberation of the Senate 

Id he very calmly advised. He objected on the ground of 



THE FREE DM EX. 97 

its indefiniteness : "There are no particular laws designated in 
the bill to be repealed. All laws existing before these States got 
into a condition of insurrection, by which any difference or ine- 
quality is created or established, are to be repealed. What is to 
be the effect of that repeal upon such laws as they exist'.' In 
some of those States, by the constitution or by the laws, (and the 
constitution is equally a law.) persons of the African race are ex- 
cluded from certain political privileges. Are they to be repealed, 
and at once, by force of that repeal, are they to be placed exactly 
upon the same footing in regard to all political privileges with that 
which belongs to the other class of citizens? Very many of those 
laws are laws passed under the police power, which has always 
been conceded as a power belonging to the States — laws supposed 
to have been necessary in order to protect the States themselves 
from insurrection. Are they to be repealed absolutely? 

"No man feels more anxious certainly than I do that the rights 
incident to the condition of freedom, which is now as I person- 
ally am glad to believe, the condition of the black race, should 
not be violated ; but T do not know that there is any more press- 
ing need for extraordinary legislation to prevent outrages upon 
that class, by any thing which i< occurring in the Southern States, 
than there is for preventing outrages in the loyal States. Crimes 
are being perpetrated every day in the very justly-esteemed State 
from which the honorable member conies. Hardly a paper fails 
to give us an account of some most atrocious and horrible crime. 
Murders shock the sense of that community and the sense of the 
United States very often; and it is not peculiar to Massachusetts. 
Moral by her education, and loving freedom and hating injustice 
as much as the people of any other State, she yet is unable to pre- 
vent a violation of every principle of human rights, but we are 
not for that reason to legislate for her." 

Mr. Wilson replied: "The Senator from Maryland says that 
cruelties and great crimes are committed in all sections of the 
country. I know it ; but we have not cruel and inhuman law- to 
be enforced. Sir, armed men are traversing portions of the rebel 
States to-day enforcing these black laws upon men whom we have 
made free, and to whom we stand pledged before man and God to 
maintain their freedom. A few months ago these freedmen were 
joyous, hopeful, confident. To-day they are distrustful, silent, 
and sad, and this condition has grown out of the wrongs and 
7 



98 THI-: Till A* 7' J-. VAN 77/ CONGRESS. 

cruelties and oppressions that have been perpetrated upon 
them." 

Mr. Sherman said: "1 believe it is the duty of Congress to 
give to the freedmen of the Southern States ample protection in 
all their natural rights. With me it is a question simply of time 
and manner. I submit to the Senator of Massachusetts whether 
this is the time for the introduction of this bill. 1 believe it 
would be wiser to postpone all action upon this subject until the 
proclamation of the Secretary of State shall announce that the 
constitutional amendment is a part of the supreme law of the land. 
When that is done, there will then be, in my judgment, no doubt 
of the power of Congress to pass this bill, and to make it definite 
and general in its terms. 

•• Then, as I have said, it is a question of manner. When thi< 
question comes to be legislated upon by Congress, I do not wish 
it to be left to the uncertain and ambiguous language of this bill. 
T think that the rights which we desire to secure to the freedmen 
of the South should be distinctly specified. 

"The language of this bill is not sufficiently definite and dis- 
tinct to inform the people of the United States of precisely the 
character of rights intended to be secured by it to the freedmen 
of the Southern States. The bill in its terms applies only to 
those States which were declared to be in insurrection; and the 
same criticism would apply to this part of it that I have already 
made, that it is not general in its term-." 

Mr. Trumbull made some remarks of great significance, as fore- 
shadowing important measures soon to occupy the attention of 
Congress and the country: 

"I hold that under thai second section Congress will have 
the authority, when the constitutional amendment is adopted. 
not only to pass the bill of the Senator from Massachusetts, but 
a bill that will be much mure efficient to protect the freedman in 
\\\< rights. We may, if deemed advisable, continue the Freed- 
man's Bureau, clothe it with additional powers, and, if necessary, 
back it up with a military force, to see that the right- of the men 
made free by the first clause of the constitutional amendment are 
protected. And. sir, when the constitutional amendment shall 
have been adopted, it" the information from the South be that the 
men whose liberties are secured by it arc deprived of the privilege 
to go and come when they please, to buy and sell when they 



THE FBMEDMEM. 99 

please, to make contracts and enforce contracts, I give notice that, 
if no one else does, I shall introduce a bill, and urge its passage 
through Congress, that will secure to those men every one of these 
rights: they would not be freemen without them. It is idle to 
say that a man is free who can not go and come at pleasure, who 
can not buy and sell, who can not enforce his rights. These arc 
rights which the first clause of the constitutional amendment 
meant to secure to all." 

On a subsequent day, December 20, 1865, when this subject 
A\as again before the Senate, Mr. Sumner spoke in its favor. Re- 
ferring to the message of the President on the " Condition of the 
Southern States," the Senator said: 

" When I think of what occurred yesterday in this chamber ; 
when I call to mind the attempt to whitewash the unhappy con- 
dition of the rebel States, and to throw the mantle of official ob- 
livion over sickening and heart-rending outrages, where human 
rights are sacrificed and rebel barbarism receives a new letter of 
license, I feci that I ought to speak of nothing else. I stood here 
years ago, in the days of Kansas, when a small community was 
surrendered to the machinations of slave-masters. I now stand 
here again, when, alas ! an immense region, with millions of peo- 
ple, has been surrendered to the machinations of slave-masters. 
Sir, it is the duty of Congress to arrest this fatal fury. Congress 
must dare to be brave ; it must dare to be just." 

After having quoted copiously from the great Russian act by 
which the freedom given to the serfs by the Emperor's proclama- 
tion " was secured," and having emphasized them as examples for 
American legislation, Mr. Sumner said: 

" Mv colleague is clearly right in introducing his bill and press- 
ing it to a vote. The argument for it is irresistible. It is essen- 
tial to complete emancipation. Without it emancipation will be 
only half done. It is our duty to see that it is wholly done. 
Slavery must be abolished not in form only, but in substance, so 
that there shall be no black code^ but all shall be equal before 
the law." 

He then read extracts from letters and documents, showing the 
hostile sentiments of the people, and the unhappy condition of 
the colored population in nearly all of the rebel States, and closed 
by saying: "I bring this plain story to a close. I regret that 
I have been constrained to present it. I wish it were otherwise. 



100 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 

But I should have tailed in duty had I failed to speak. S A in 

»er, not in vengeance, not in harshness have I spoken; but 
solemnly, carefully, and for the sake of my country and human- 

. thai peace and reconciliation may again prevail. 1 have 
spoken especially for the loyal citizens who are new trodden 
down by rebel power. Yon Lave before you the actual condition 
of tin- rebel Stat You have heard the terrible testimony. 

The blood curdles at the thought of such enormities, and espe- 
cially at the thought that the poor freedraen, to whom we owe 
protection, arc left to the unrestrained will of such a people 
smarting with defeat, and ready to wreak vengeance upon thi - 
representatives of a true loyalty. In the name of God let us 
protect them. Insist upon guarantees. Pass the lull now under 
consideration; pass any hill; hut do not let this crying injustice 
rage anv longer. An avenging God can not sleep while such 
things find countenance. If von are not readv to he the M 
of an oppressed people, do not become its Pharaoh." 

Mr. Cowan rebuked the Senator from Massachusetts for apply- 
ing the term " whitewash" to the message of the President. He 
then charged Mr. Sumner with reading from "anonymous letter- 
writers, from cotton agents, and people of that kind," and placed 
against them "the testimony of the President of the United 
- ites, not a summer soldier, or a sunshine patriot, who was 
.-• Union man, and who was in favor i^ the Union at a time and 
in a place when there was some merit in it. He then pro- 

eded to read extracts from the President's message and General 
Grant's report. 

<)n a subsequent day, Mr. Stewart, of Nevada, made a speech 
in opposition to the position- assumed by Mr. Sumner. He de- 
clared his opinion that "if the great mass of the people of the 
Smith are capable <>f the atrocities attributed to them by the 

lOnymous witnesses paraded before this Senate, then a union 
i • these States is impossible; then hundreds and thousand- of the 
bravest and best of our laud. have fallen to no purpose; then 
every house, from the gulf to the lakes, is draped in mourning 
without an object; then three thousand million- of indebtedness 
hangs like a pall upon the pride and prosperity of the people, 

only to admonish us that the war was wicked, useless, and 
cruel." 

After making the remark, " En judging of testimony upon 



THE FREEDMEN. 101 

ordinary subject.-, we take into consideration not only the facts 
stated, but the character and standing of the witness, his means 
of information, and last, but not least, his appearance upon the 
stand," Mr. Stewart thus spoke in behalf of the principal wit- 
ness relied upon in the defense of the South: "In this great 
cause, the Senate properly called upon the chief Executive of the 
nation for information. Was he a witness whose character and 
standing before the country would entitle his testimony to con- 
sideration? Let the voice of a great people, who have indorsed 
his patriotism and administration, answer. Were his means of 
information such as to entitle him to speak advisedly upon this 
subject? Let the machinery of the Government, that collects 
facts from every department, civil and military, upon the table 
of the Executive, answer. Was not his appearance before the 
public, in communicating this testimony to the Senate and the 
country such as to remove all grounds of suspicion? Let the 
exalted tone, bold and fearless statement, pure and patriotic spirit 
of both his messages be his best vindication." 

The Senator's remarks were principally directed in opposition 
to the policy of regarding the rebel States as "conquered terri- 
tories." He finally remarked: "I wish to be distinctly under- 
stood as not opposing the passage of the bill. I am in favor of 
legislation on this subject, and such legislation as shall secure the 
freedom of those who were formerly slaves, and their equality 
before the law; and I maintain that it can be fully secured with- 
out holding the Southern States in territorial subjugation." 

Mr. Wilson replied: "The Senator who has just addressed us 
questions the testimony adduced here by my colleague yesterday. 
He might as well question the massacre at Fort Pillow, and the 
cruelties perpetrated at Andersonville, where eighty-three per cent, 
of the men who entered the hospitals died — Andersonville, where 
more American soldiers lie buried than fell throughout the Mexi- 
can war; where more American soldiers lie buried than were 
killed in battle of British soldiers in Wellington's four great bat- 
tles in Spain, and at Waterloo, Alma, Inkermann, and Sebastopol. 
The Senator might as well question the atrocities of sacked Law- 
rence and other atrocities committed during the war. If he will 
go into the Freedman's Bureau, and examine and study the offi- 
cial records of officers who, for five or six months, have taken 
testimony and have large volumes of .-worn facts; if he will go 



mj THE 77///,'7T-.V/.V77/ CONGRESS. 

into the office of General Holt, and read the reports there, hia 
heart and soul will be made sick at the wrongs man does to his 
fellow-man." 

The Senator, in the course of his remarks, took occasion to ex- 
press his opinion of "conservatism:" "Progress is to be made 
only by fidelity to the great cause by which we have stood dur- 
ing the pasl four years of bloody war. For twenty-five years we 
had a conflict of ideas, of words, of thoughts — words and thoughts 
stronger than cannon-halls. We have had four years of bloody 
conflict. Slavery, every thing that belongs or pertain- to it. lies 
prostrate before us to-day, and the foot of a regenerated nation is 
upon it. There let it lie forever. I hoj>e no word- or thoughts 
of a reactionary character are to he uttered in either house of 
Congress. I hope nothing is to be uttered hen' in the name of 
f conservatism/ the worst word in the English language. If there 
i< a word in the English language that mean- treachery, servility, 
and cowardice, it is that word { conservative. 5 It ought never 
hereafter to be on the lips of an American statesman. Fortwenty 
years it has stood in America the synonym of meanness and base- 
ness. I have studied somewhat carefully the political history of' 
the country during the last fifteen or twenty years, and I have al- 
ways noticed that when T heard a man prate about being a con- 
servative :md about conservatism, he was about to do some mean 
thin [Laughter.] I never knew it to l'ail : in fact, it is about 
the first word a man utter- when he begins to retreat." 

Mi-. Wilson declared his motives in proposing this hill, and 
vet cheerfully acquiesced in its probable fate : "Having read hun- 
dred- of pages of records and of testimony, enough to make the 
heart ami soul sick, I proposed this hill a- a measure of humanity. 
I desired, before we entered on tin' great questions of public pol- 
icy, that we should pass a simple hill annulling these cruel laws; 
that we should do it early, and then proceed calmly with OUT 
legislation. That was my motive for bringing this hill into the 
Senate so early in the session. Many of the difficulties occurring 
in the rebel Stat.-, between white men and black men, between 
the old masters and the freedmen, grow out of these laws. They 
arc executed in various part- of" the States j the military arrest 
their execution frequently, and the agents of the Fueedmen's Bu- 
reau sel them aside; and this keep- up a continual conflict. If 
these obnoxious State laws were promptly annulled, it would con- 



THE FREEDMEN. 103 

tribute much to the restoration of good feeling and harmony, re- 
lieve public officers from immense labors, and the freedmen from 
suffering and sorrow; and this, is the opinion of the most expe- 
rienced men engaged in the Freedmen's Bureau. I have had an 
opportunity to consult with and to communicate with many of 
the agents of the Bureau, with teachers, officers, and persons who 
understand the state of affairs in those States. 

"But, sir, it is apparent now that the bill is not to pass at pres- 
ent ; that it must go over for the holidays at any rate. The con- 
stitutional amendment has been adopted, and I have introduced 
a bill this morning based upon that amendment, which has been 
referred to the committee of which the Senator from Illinois 
[Mr. Trumbull] is chairman. This bill will go over; possibly 
it will not be acted upon at all. We shall probably enter on the 
discussion of the broader question of annulling all the black laws 
in the country, and putting these people under the protection of 
humane, ecpial, and just laws." 

The presentiment of the author of the bill was realized. The 
bill never saw the light as a law of the land. Nor was it need- 
ful that it should. It contributed to swell the volume of other 
and more sweeping measures. 



104 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE Kill EDMEN'S BUREAU HILL IN THE SENATE. 

THE BILL INTRODUCED AM) REFERRED TO J UDICIARY COMMITTEE — Its PROVIS- 
IONS — Argument of Mr. Hendricks against it — Reply of Mb Trum- 
bull — Mr. "'.iwan's amendment — Mr. Guthrie wishes to rbldsve 
Kentucky from the operation of the bill — Mr, Crbswell desires 
mat Maryland may enjoy the benefits of the uii.i. — Mb. Cowan's 

GRATITUDE To GOD AND FRIENDSHIP FOR THE NEGRO — REMARKS BY Mr 

Wilson — "The shout gentleman's long speech" — Yeas and nays — 
Insulting title. 

ON the 19th of December Mr. Trumbull gave notice that "ou 
some curly day" he would "introduce a bill to enlarge the 
powers of tlic Freedmen's Bureau so as i" secure freedom to 
all persons within the United States, and protect every individual 
in the Cull enjoyment of the rights of person and property, and 
furnish him with means for their vindication." Of the introduc- 
tion of this measure, he said it would be done "in view of the 
adoption of the constitutional amendmenl abolishing slavery. 1 
have never doubted that, on the adoption of that amendment, it 
would be competent for Congress to protect every person in the 
United States in all the rights of person and property belonging 
tu a free citizen ; and to secure these rights is the object of the bill 
which 1 propose i" introduce. 1 think it important that action 
should be taken on this subject at an early day, for the purpose 
of quieting apprehensions in the mind- of man) friends of free- 
dom, lest by local legislation or a prevailing public sentiment in 
some of the State.-, pi rsons <>f' the African race should continui i" 
be oppressed, and, in fact, deprived of their freedom ; and tin- the 
purpose, also, of showing to those among whom slavery has here- 
tofore existed, that unless by local legislation they provide for the 
real freedom of their Conner -lave-, the 1". d. ral Government will, 



THE FREEDMEN. 105 

by virtue of its own authority, see that they arc fully pro- 
tected." 

On the 5th of January, 1866, the first day of the session of 
Congress after the holidays, Mr. Trumbull obtained leave to in- 
troduce a bill "to enlarge the powers of the Freedmen's Bureau." 
Tlu' bill was read twice by its title, and as it contained provisions re- 
lating to the exercise of judicial functions by the officers and agents 
of the Freedmen's Bureau, under certain circumstances, in the late 
insurgent States, it was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

On the 11th of January Mr. Trumbull reported the bill from 
the Judiciary Committee, to whom it had been referred, with 
some amendments of a verbal character. On the following day 
these amendments were considered by the Senate, in Committee 
of the Whole, and adopted. The consideration of the bill as 
amended was deferred to a subsequent day. 

The bill provided that " the act to establish a Bureau for the 
relief of Freedmen and Refugees, approved March 3, 1865, shall 
continue until otherwise provided for by law, and shall extend to 
refugees and freedmen in all parts of the United States. The 
President is to be authorized to divide the section of country 
containing such refugees and freedmen into districts, each contain- 
ing one or more States, not to exceed twelve in number, and by 
and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint an as- 
sistant commissioner for each district, who shall give like bond, 
receive the same compensation, and perform the same duties pre- 
scribed by this act and the act to which it is an amendment. 
The bureau may, in the discretion of the President, be placed 
under a commissioner and assistant commissioners, to be detailed 
from the army, in which event each officer so assigned to duty is 
to serve without increase of pay or allowances. 

" The commissioner, with the approval of the President, is to 
divide each district into a number of sub-districts, not to exceed 
the number of counties or parishes in each State, and to assign to 
each sub-district at least one agent, either a citizen, officer of the 
army, or enlisted man, who, if an officer, is to serve without ad- 
ditional compensation or allowance, and if a citizen or enlisted 
man, is to receive a salary not exceeding §1,500 per annum. 
Each assistant commissioner may employ not exceeding six 
clerks, one of the third class and five of the first class, and each 
agent of a sub-district may employ two clerks of the first class. 



106 THE THIRT1-.yr.XTH CONGRESS. 

The President of the United State-, through the War Department 
and the commissioner, is to extend military jurisdiction and pro- 

tectioD over all employes, agents, and officerB of the bureau, and 
the Secretary of War may direel such issues of provisions, cloth- 
ing, fuel, and other supplies, including medical stores and trans- 
portation, and afford such aid, medical or otherwise, a- he may 
deem needful for the immediate and temporary shelter and supply 
of destitute and suffering refugees and freedmen, their wives and 
children, under such rules and regulations a- he may direct. 

•• [1 is also provided that the President may, for settlemenl in 
the manner prescribed by section four of the act t<> which this is 
an amendment, reserve from sale or settlement, under the home- 
stead or preemption laws, public hinds in Florida, Mississippi, 
and Arkansas^ not to exceed three million acres of good land in 
all, the rental named in that section to he determined in such 
manner a- the commissioner -hall by regulation prescribe. It 
proposes to confirm and make valid the po.-- t — ory title- -ranted 
in pursuance of Major-General Sherman'- special held order, 
dated at Savannah, January 16, L865. The commissioner, under 
the direction of the President, is to be empowered to purchase or 
rent such tract- of land in the several districts as may be nee -- 
sary to provide for the indigent refugees and freedmen dependent 
upon the Governmenl for support; also to purchase sites and 
buildings for schools and asylums, to be held as United Stal 
property until the refugees or freedmen shall purchase the same, 
or they shall be otherwise disposed of by the commissioner. 

" Whenever in any State or district in which the ordinary 
course of judicial proceedings has been interrupted by the rebell- 
ion, and wherein, in consequence of any State or local law, ordi- 
nance, police or other regulation, custom, or prejudice, any of the 
civil right- or immunities belonging to white persons (including 
the right to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and 
give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, -ell, bold, and convey 

real and personal property, and to have fall and equal hem til of 
all law- ami proceedings for tlu' security of person and estate), are 
refused or denied to negroes, mulattoes, freedmen, refugees, or any 
other persons, on account of race, color, or any previous condition 
of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for 
crime whereof the party -hall have been duly convicted, or wherein 
they or any of them are subjected to any other or different pun- 



THE FREED MEN. 107 

ishment, pains, or penalties, for the commission of any act or 
offense, than are prescribed for white persons committing like 
acts or offenses, it is to be the duty of the President of the United 
States, through the commissioner, to extend military protection 
and jurisdiction over all cases affecting such persons so discrim- 
inated against. 

" Any person who, under color of any State or local law, ordi- 
nance, police, or other regulation or custom, shall, in any State or 
district in which the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has 
been interrupted by the rebellion, subject, or cause to be subjected, 
any negro, mulatto, freedman, refugee, or other person, on account 
of race or color, or any previous condition of slavery or involun- 
tary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party 
shall have been duly convicted, or for any other cause, to the de- 
privation of any civil right secured to white persons, or to any 
other or different punishment than white persons are subject to 
for the commission of like acts or oiFenses, is to be deemed guilty 
of a misdemeanor, and be punished by fine not exceeding §1,000 
or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both. It is to be the 
duty of the officers and agents of this bureau to take jurisdiction 
of and hear and determine all offenses committed against this 
provision ; and also of all cases affecting negroes, mulattoes, 
freedmen, refugees, or other persons who are discriminated 
against in any of the particulars mentioned in this act, under 
such rules and regulations as the President of the United States, 
through the War Department, may prescribe. This jurisdiction 
is to cease and determine whenever the discrimination on account 
of which it is conferred ceases, and is in no event to be exercised 
in any State in which the ordinary course of judicial proceedings 
has not been interrupted by the rebellion, nor in any such State 
after it shall have been fully restored in all its constitutional re- 
lations to the United States, and the courts of the State and of 
the United States within its limits are not disturbed or stopped 
in the peaceable course of justice." 

Other business occupying the attention of the Senate, the con- 
sideration of the Freedman's Bureau Bill was not practically 
entered upon until the 18th of January. On that day, Mr. 
Stewart made a speech ostensibly on this bill, but really on the 
question of reconstruction and negro suffrage, in reply to re- 
marks by Mr. Wade. on those subjects. 



108 THE THIRTY-JflNTR CONGRESS. 

Mr. Trumbull moved as an amendment to the bill that occupant • 
oj land under General Sherman's special field order, dated at Sav- 
annah, January 1*;. L865, should be confirmed in their possessions 
for the period of three years from the date of said order, and no 
person should be disturbed in said possession during the said three 
years unless a settlement should be made with said occupant by the 
owner satisfactory to the commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau. 

Mr. Trumbull explained the circumstances under which the 
freedmen had obtained possessory titles to land- in Georgia, and 
urged the propriety of their being confirmed by Congress for thn 
years. I [e said : 

" 1 should be glad to go further. I would be glad, if we could, 
to secure to these people, upon any just principle, the fee of this 
land; but 1 do not see with what propriety we could except this 
particular traci of country oul of all the other lands in the South, 
and appropriate it in fee to these parties. I think, having gone 
upon the land in good faith tinder the protection of the Govern- 
ment, we may protect them there for a reasonable time; and the 
opinion of the committee was that three years would he a reason- 
able time." 

On the following day, Mr. Hendricks presented his objections 
to the hill in a speech of considerable length. lie was follow, d 
by Mr. Trumbull in reply. As both were members of the Judi- 
ciary Committee from which the hill was reported, and both had 
carefully considered the reasons for and against the measure, their 
arguments are given at length. 

Mr. Hendricks said: " At the last session of Congress the origi- 
nal law creating that bureau was passed. We were then in the 
midst of the war; very considerable territory had been brought 
within the control of the Union troops and armies, and within 
the scope of that territory, it was said, there were many freedmen 
who imi-t he protected by a hill of that sort ; and it was mainly 
upon that argument that the hill was enacted. The Senate was 
very reluctant to enact the law creating the bureau as it now ex- 
ists. There was so much hesitancy on tin- part of the Senate, that 
by a very large vote it refused to agree to the hill reported by the 
Senator from Massachusetts, [Mr. Sumner. J from a committee of 
conference, and 1 believe the honorable Senator from [llinois, [Mr. 
Trumbull,] who introduced this hill, himself voted against that 
hill; and why? That hill simply undertook to define the power- 



THE FREEDMEN. 109 

and duties of the Freedmen's Bureau and its agents, and the Sen- 
ate would not agree to confer the powers that that bill upon its 
face seemed to confer, and it was voted down; and then the law :is 
it now stands was enacted in general terms. There was very little 
gained, indeed, by the Senate refusing to pass the first bill and 
enacting the latter, for under the law as it passed, the Freedmen's 
Bureau assumed very nearly all the jurisdiction and to exercise all 
the powers contemplated in the bill reported by the Senator from 
Massachusetts. 

"Now, sir, it is important to note very carefully the enlarge- 
ment of the powers of this bureau proposed by this bill ; and in 
the first place, it proposes to make the bureau permanent. The 
last Congress would not agree to this. The bill that the Senate 
voted down did not limit the duration of the bureau, and it was 
voted down, and the bill that the Senate agreed to provided that 
the bureau should continue during the war and only for one year 
after its termination. That was the judgment of the Senate at the 
last session. What has occurred since to change the judgment of 
the Senate in this important matter? What change in the condi- 
tion of the country induces the Senate now to say that this shall be 
a permanent bureau or department of the Government, when at 
the last session it said it should cease to exist within one year 
after the conclusion of the war ? Why, sir, it seems to me that 
the country is now, and especially the Southern States are now in 
better condition than the Senate had reason to expect when the 
law was enacted. Civil government has been restored in almost 
all the Southern States; the courts are. restored in many of 
them; in many localities they are exercising their jurisdiction 
within their particular localities without let or hinderance ; and 
why, I ask Senators, shall we make this bureau a perpetual and 
permanent institution of the Government when we refused to 
do it at the hast session ? 

'• I ask Senators, in the first place, if they are now, with the 
most satisfactory information that is before the body, willing 
to do that which they refused to do at the last session of Con- 
gress? We refused to pass the law when it proposed to establish 
a permanent department. Shall we now, when the war is over, 
when the States are returning to their places in the Union, when 
the citizens are returning to their allegiance, when peace and 
quiet, to a very large extent, prevail over that country, when the 



110 THE THIRTY-Xl.YTH CONGRESS 

<■ i- are reestablished; is the Senate now, with this- information 

before it, willing to make this a permanent bureau and depart- 
ment of the ( rovernment '.' 

"The next proposition of the bill is, that it shall not be confined 
any longer to the Southern States, but that it shall have a govern- 
ment <>vcr the States of the North as well as of the South. The old 
law allowed the President to appoint a commissioner for each of 
the States that had been declared to be in rebellion— one for each 
of the eleven seceding States, not to exceed ten in all. This bill 
provides that the jurisdiction of the bureau -hall extend where- 
ever, within the limits of the United States, refugees or freedmen 
have gone. Indiana has not been a State in insurrection, and 
yet there are thousand- <>t' refugees and freedmen who have g 
into that State within the last three year-. This bureau is to b 
come a governing power over the State of Indiana according t<> 
the provisions of the bill. Indiana, that provide- for her own 
paupers, Indiana, that provides for the government of her own 
people, may, under the provisions of this hill, be placed under a 
government that our fathers never contemplated — a government 
that must be most distasteful to freemen. 

"I know it may be said that the bureau will not probably be 
extended to the Northern States. If it is not intended to !>.• ex- 
tended to those States, why amend the old law SO as to give this 
power? When the old law limited the jurisdiction of this bureau 
to the States that had been declared in insurrection, is it not 
enough that the bureau should have included one State, the State 
of Kentucky, over which it had no rightful original jurisdiction? 
And must we now amend it 80 a- to place all the States of the 
Union within the power of this irresponsible sub-government? 
This is one objection that I have to the bill, ami the next is the 
expense that it must necessarily impose upon the people. We 
are asked by the Freedmen'- Bureau in its estimates to appropri- 
ate $11,745,050; nearly twelve million dollars for the support 

of tin- bureau and to carry on its operation- during the coming 
year. I will read what he -ay-: 

"'It i- estimated that the amount required for the expenditures of the 
bureau for tin- fiscal year commencing January, L866, will be $11, 74;"), 050. 
The sum is requisite for the following purposes 

Salaries of assistant and Bub-assistant commissioner* $147,500 

Salaries of clerks 82,800 



THE FREE DM EN. Ill 

Stationery and printing 63,000 

Quarters and fuel 15,000 

Clothing for distribution 1,750.000 

Commissary stores 4,106,250 

Medical department 500,000 

Transportation 1,980,000 

School superintendents 21,000 

Sites for school-houses and asylums 3,000,000 

Telegraphing 18,000 



Making in all the sum which I have mentioned. The old 
svstcm under this law, that was before the commissioner when he 
made this estimate, requires an expenditure to carry on its opera- 
tions of nearly twelve million dollars, and that to protect, as it is 
called, and to govern four millions of the people of the United 
States — within a few millions of the entire cost of the Government 
under Mr. Adams's administration, when the population of the 
States had gone up to many millions. How is it that a depart- 
ment that has but a partial jurisdiction over the people shall cost 
almost as much for the management of four million people as it 
cost to manage the whole Government, for its army, its navy, its 
legislative and judicial departments, in former years '? My 
learned friend from Kentucky suggests that the expenses under 
John Quincv Adams's administration were about thirteen million 
dollars. What was the population of the United States at that 
time I am not prepared to state, but it was far above four mill- 
ions. Now, to manage four million people is to cost the people 
of the United States, under the law as it stands, nearly as much 
as it cost the people to manage the whole affairs of the Govern- 
ment under the administration of Mr. John Quincy Adams. 

" I hear Senators speak very frequently of the necessity of 
economy and retrenchment. Is this a specimen, increasing the 
number of officers almost without limit, and increasing the ex- 
penditures? I think one might be safe in saying that, if this 
bill passes, we can not expect to get through a year with less 
than $20,000,000 of an expenditure for this bureau. But that 
is a mere opinion ; for no man can tell until we have the number 
of officers that are to be appointed under the bill prescribed in 
the bill itself, and this section leaves the largest discretion to the 
bureau in the appointment of officers. I appeal to Senators to 
know whether, at this time, when we ought to adopt a system of 



112 THE 77/ ////J'-. \ 7. V 77/ CONGRESS. 

retrenchment and reform, they are willing to pass a bill which 
will so largely increase the public expenditures. 

"Then, sir, when tin- army of officers has been organized, the 
bill provides: ' Ami the President of the United States, through 
the War Department and the commissioner, shall extend mili- 
tary jurisdiction and protection over all employes, agents, and 
officers of this bureau.' 

•■ Will some Senator be good enough to tell me what that 
means? If [ndiana be declared a State within which arc found 
refugees and freedmen, who have escaped from the Southern 
States, and if Indiana has a commissioner appointed to her, and 
if in each county of Indiana there be a sub-commissioner at a 
-alary of $1,500 a year, with two clerks with a salary of |1,200 
each, and then the War Department throws over this little army 
of office-holders in the State of Indiana its protection, what does 
tlr.it mean".' The people of Indiana have been ground hard under 
military authority and power within the last three or four years, 
but it was borne because it was hoped that when the war would 
hi' closed the military power would he withdrawn from the State. 
Under this hill it may he established permanently upon the peo- 
ple by a body of men protected by the military power of the 
Government. An officer is appointed to the State of Indiana to 
reeulate the contracts which arc made between the white people 
and the colored people of that State, and because he holds this 
oilier, not military in its character, involving no military act 
whatever, the military throws over him its iron shield of protec- 
tion. What doe- that mean V If this officer shall do a great 
wrong and outrage to one of the people, and the wronged citizen 
appeals to the court for his redress and brings his -nit tor dam- 
is, does the protecting >hiehl of the War Department prevent 
the prosecution of that -nit ami the recovery of a judgment? 
What is the protection that i> thrown over this armj of offioe- 
holders? Let it he explained. 

■ It may be said that this i- a part of the military department. 
That will depend not bo mucll upon what we call them in the 

is what arc the duties imposed upon these sub-agents. It i- 
a Uttle difficult to tell. Thej are to protect the freedmen; they 
are .,, protect refugees; they are to buy asylums and school- 
houses; they are to establish schools; they arc to see to the con- 

LCts that are made between white men and colored men. I 



THE FREE DM EX. 113 

want to know of the chairman of tho committee thai reported this 
bill, in what respect these duties are military in their character? 
T can understand one thing-, that it may be regarded as a war 
upon the liberties of the people, but I am not able to see in what 
respect the duties of these officers otherwise are military. But 
this protection is to be thrown over them. I will not occupy 
longer time upon that subject. 

" The third section of the bill changes the letter of the law in 
two respects : first, ' That the Secretary of War may direct such 
issues of provisions, clothing, fuel, and other supplies, including 
medical stores and transportation/ etc. Those last words, ' med- 
ical stores and transportation,' make the change in the law that 
is proposed, in this bill. But, sir, in point of fact it makes no 
change in the law; for if you will turn to the report of the com- 
missioner of this bureau, it will be found that the bureau, during 
the past six months, has been furnishing medical supplies and 
transportation. A very large item in the expenditures estimated 
for is transportation. But I wish to ask of the Senator who 
framed this bill why we shall now provide for the transportation 
of freedmen and refugees. During the war, a very large number 
of refugees came from the Southern States into the North ; but 
the Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, in his report, says 
that those refugees have mainly returned, and but few remain 
now to be carried back from the North to the South, or who de- 
sire to be. Then why do we provide in this bill for transporta- 
tion"? Is it simply to give the bureau the power to transport 
refugees and freedmen from one locality to another at its pleas- 
ure? The necessitv of carrying them from one section of the 
country to another has passed away. Is it intended by this bill 
that the bureau shall expend the people's money in carrying the 
colored people from one locality in a Southern State to another 
locality? I ask the Senator from Illinois, when he comes to ex- 
plain his bill, to tell us just what is the force and purpose of this 
provision. 

"The fourth resolution, as amended, provides for the setting 
apart of three million acres of the public lands in the States of 
Florida, Mississippi, and Arkansas for homes for the colored 
people. I believe that is the only provision of the bill in which 
I concur. I concur in what was said by some Senator yesterday, 
that it is desirable, if we ever expect to do any thing substantially 
8 



/ / ; 77/ /•; Til I R T 1 -. \ 7. \ 77/ C0. \ G R ESS. 

for the colored people, to encourage them to obtain homes, and [ 
:.ni willing to vote for a reasonable appropriation of the public 
land- for thai purpose. 1 shall not, therefore, occupy time in dis- 
< u&sing that section. 

"The fifth section, as amended by the proposition before the 
Senate, proposes to confirm the possessory right of the colored 
people upon these land- for three year- from the date of that 
order, or aboul two years from this time, I like the amendment 
better than the original l>ill : for the original l>ill hit it entirely 
uncertain what was confirmed, and of course it is better that we 
should say one year, or three years, or ten years, than to leave it 
entirely indefinite for what period we <l<> confirm the possession. 
1 have no doubt that General Sherman ha<l the power, as a mili- 
tary commander, at the time, to set apart the abandoned lands 
along the coasl as a place in which to leave the colored people 
then surrounding his army; but that General Sherman during the 
war. <»r that < ongress after the war. except by a proceeding for 
confiscation, can take the land permanently from one person and 
give it to another, 1 do nut admit; nor did General Sherman 
undertake t<> do that. In express terms, he said that they should 
have the right of possession ; for what length of time he did not 
say, for the reason that he could not say. It was a military pos- 
session that he conferred, and that possession would last only dur- 
ing the continuance of the military occupation, and no longer. It' 
General Sherman, by his General Order No. 15, placed the colored 
people upon the lands along the coast of South Carolina, Georgia, 
and Florida, for a temporary purpose, what was the extent of the 
possessory right whicli he could confer? He did not undertake to 
give a title for any defined period, hut -imply the righl of poss -- 
sion. It i- fair to eon-true his order as meaning only what he 
could do, giving the righl of possession during military occupancy. 
Now, sir, the President informs us that the rebellion is suppressed ; 
that the war i- over: that military law no longer governs in that 
country; hut that peace i- restored, and that civil law shall now 
govern. What, then. i- the law upon the subject? A right of 

possession is given by tin mmanding general to certain persons 

within that region of country; peace follow.-, and with peace 
comes hack the right of the real owners to the possession. This 
possession that the General undertook to give, according to law, 
could not last longer than the military occupancy. When peace 



the f ■// /■:/■: i ).\ir:.v. lis 

comes, the right of the owners return with it. Then how is it 
that Congress can undertake to say that the property that belongs 
to A, B, and C, upon the islands and sea-coasl of the South, shall, 
for two years from this date, not belong to them, hut shall be- 
long to certain colored people? I want to know upon what 
principle of law Congress can take the property of one man and 
give it to another. 

" I know very well what may he done in the courts by a pro- 
ceeding for confiscation. I am not discussing that question. If 
there has been any property confiscated and disposed of under 
proceedings of confiscation, I do not question the title here. That 
is purely a judicial question. Bat, sir, I deny that Congress can 
legislate the property of one man into the possession of another. 
Tf this section is to pass, I prefer that this confirmation shall be 
for three years rather than leave it in the uncertain state in which 
General Sherman's order left it. 

"The sixth section provides, ' That the commissioners shall, 
under the direction of the President, procure in the name of the 
United States, by grant or purchase, such lauds within the 
districts aforesaid as may be required for refugees and freedmen 
dependent on the Government for support; and he shall provide, 
or cause to be erected, suitable buildings for asylums and schools.' 
Upon what principle can you authorize the Government of the 
United States to buy lands for the poor people in any State of 
the Union? They may be very meritorious; their cases may 
appeal with great force to our sympathies; it may almost appear 
necessary to prevent suffering that we should buy a home for 
each poor person in the country; but where is the power of the 
General Government to do this thins;? Is it true that by this 
revolution the persons and property of the people have been 
brought within the jurisdiction of Congress, and taken from 
without the control and jurisdiction of the States? I have under- 
stood heretofore that it has never been disputed that the duty to 
provide for the poor, the insane, the blind, and all who are de- 
pendent upon society, rests upon the States, and that the power 
does not belong to the General Government. What has occurred, 
then, in this war that has changed the relation of the people to 
the General Government to so great an extent that Congress may 
become the purchasers of homes for them? Tf we can go so far, 
I know of no limit to the powers of Congress. Here is a propo- 



110 Till-: TfriRTV-.XI.YTH CONGRESS 

sition to buy :i home for each dependent freeman and refugee. 
The section is n<>t quite as strong as it might have been. It 
would have been stronger, I think, in the present state of public 
sentiment, if the word 'refugee 5 had been left out, and if it had 
been only for the freedmen, because it does not seem to be so pop- 
ular now to buy a home for a white man as to buy one for a colored 
man. But this l>ill authorize- the officers of' the Freedmen's 
Bureau to buy homes Cor white people an 1 for black people only 
upon the ground that they are dependent. It' this be the law 
now, there has come about a startling change in the relation of 
the States and of the people to the ( reneral < rovernment. I shall 
be very happy to hear from the learned head of the Judiciary 
Committee upon what principle it Ls that in any one single cas 
you may buy a home for any man, whether he be rich or poor. 
The General Government may buy land when it is necessary for 
the exercise of any of its powers ; but outside of that, it seems to 
me. there Ls no power within the Constitution allowing it. 

"The most remarkable sections of the bill, however, are the 
seventh ami eighth, and to those sections I will ask the very 
careful attention of Senators; for I think if we can pass tie - 
two sections, ami make them a law, then indeed this Government 
can do any thing. It will be useless to -peak any longer of 
limitations upon the powers of the General Government; it will 
he idle to speak of the reserved power of the State-: State rights 
and State power will have passed away it* we can do what is 
proposed in the seventh and eighth section- of this hill. \\ e 
propose, first, to legislate against the effects of ■ local law, ordi- 
nance, police, or other regulation;' then against 'custom,' ami 
lastly, against 'prejudice,' and to provide that 'if any of the civil 
rights or immunities belonging to white person-' are denied t> 
any person because of color, then that person -hall be taken un- 
der the military protection of the Government. 1 do not know 
whether that will he understood to extend to Indiana or not. 
That will he a very nice point for the bureau to decide, I pre- 
sume, after the enactment of the law. The section limits its 
operation to 'any State or district in which the ordinary course 
of judicial proceediugs has been interrupted by the rebellion.' It 
will be a little difficult to say whether in the State of Indiana 
and Ohio the ordinary course of judicial proceeding has or I 
not been interrupted. We had some war in Indiana: we had a 



THE FREED MEN. 117 

very irrcat raid through that State and some fighting; and I 
presume that in some cases the proceedings of the courts were 
interrupted and the courts were unable to go on with their busi- 
ness, so that it might be said that even in some of the Northern 
States this provision of the bill would be applicable. Suppose 
that it were applicable to the State of Indiana, then every man in 
that State, who attempted to execute the constitution and laws 
of the State, would be liable for a violation of the law. We do 
not allow to colored people there many civil rights and immuni- 
ties which are enjoyed by the white people. It became the policy 
of the State in 1852 to prohibit the immigration of colored people 
into that State. I am not going to discuss the question whether 
that was a wise policy or not. At the time it received the ap- 
proval of my judgment. Under that constitutional provision, 
and the laws enacted in pursuance of it, a colored man coming 
into the State since 1852 can not acquire a title to real estate, 
can not make certain contracts, and no negro man is allowed to 
intermarry with a white woman. These are civil rights that are 
denied, and yet this bill proposes, if they are still denied in any 
State whose courts have been interrupted by the rebellion, the 
military protection of the Government shall be extended over 
the person who is thus denied such civil rights or immunities. 

"The next section of the bill provides punishments where any 
of these things are done, where any right is denied to a colored 
man which under State law is allowed to a white man. The 
language is very vague, and it is very difficult to say what this 
section will mean. If it has as broad a construction as is at- 
tempted to be given to the second section of the constitutional 
amendment, I would not undertake to guess what it means. 
Any man who shall deny to any colored man any civil rights 
secured to white persons, shall be liable to be taken before the 
officers of this bureau and to be punished according to the pro- 
visions of this section. In the first place, now that peace is 
restored, now that there is no war, now that men are no longer 
under military rule, but are under civil rule, I want to know 
how such a court can be organized; how it is that the citizen 
may be arrested without indictment, and may be brought before 
the officers of this bureau and tried without a jury, tried with- 
out the forms which the Constitution requires. 

"But sir, this section i< most objectionable in regard to the 



; / $ TR /■: Til I U T ) -. \ 7. \ ' III COJ\ v ; R ESS. 

offense that it defines. IT any portion of the law oughl to 
certain, it is that which defines 'Time and prescribes the punish- 
ment. What is meant by this general expression, 'the depriva- 
tion of any civil right secured to white persons'?' The agent in 
one Si ite may construe it to mean one thing, and the agent in 
another State another thing. It is broad and comprehensive — 
'the deprivation of any civil right secured to white persons." 
That act of deprivation is the crime that is to be punished. Take 
the case that 1 have just referred to. Suppose a minister, wb 
called upon, should refuse to solemnize a marriage between a 
colored man and a white woman because the law of the State 
forbade it. would he then, refusing to recognize a civil right 
which i- enjoyed by white persons, be liable to this punisinent? 

"My judgment is that, under the second section of the consti- 
tutional amendment, we may pass such a law as will secure the 
freedom declared in the first section, but that we can not go b 
yond that limitation. [fa man has been, by this provision of 
the Constitution, made free from his master, and that mastei 
undertakes to make him a slave again, we may pass such laws 
a- are sufficient in our judgment to prevent that act: hut if the 
Legislature of the State denies to the citizen as he is now called, 

the fr Iman, equal privileges with the white man. 1 want 

know if that Legislature, ami each member of thai Legislature, is 
esponsible to the penalties prescribed in tin- hill'.' It i- not at; 
act of the old master; it is an act of the State government, which 
defines ami regulates the civil rights of the people. 

•■ 1 regard it a- very dangerous legislation. It propos 

tablish a government within a government— not a republic 
within a republic, hut a cruel despotism within a republic. In 
times of peace, in communities that art' quiel ami orderly, ami 
ibedient to law. it i- proposed to establish a government not 
responsible to the people, the officers of which arc not selected 
l>v the people, the officers of which need noi he of the people 
governed —a governmenl more cruel, more despotic, more danger- 
,,i- to the liberties of the people than that against which om 
forefathers foughl in the Lievolution. There i- nothing that tin 
men may not do, under this bill, to oppress the people. 

•'Sir. if we establish courts in the Southern State-, we ought 
to establish court- that will he on both sides, or on neither side; 
hut the doctrine now i-, that it' a man is appointed, either to an 



THE FREEDMEN. 119 

executive or a judicial office, in any locality where then- are 
colored people, he must be on the side of the negro. I have nol 
heard, since Congress met, that any colored man has done a 
wrong in this country for many years ; and I have scarcely bean! 
that any white man coming in contact with colored people has 
(1 >ne right for a number of years. Every body is expected to 
take sides for the colored man against the white man. !{' I have 
to take sides, it will be with the men of my own color and my 
own race; but I do not wish to do that. Toward these people 
I hope that the legislation of Congress, within the constitutional 
powers of Congress, will be just and fair — -just to them and just 
to the white people among whom they live; that it will promote 
harmony among the people, and not discord; that it will restore 
labor to its channels, and bring about again in those States a 
condition of prosperity and happiness. Do we not all desire 
that? If we do, is it well for us to inflame our passions and the 
passions of the people of the North, so that their judgments shall 
not he equal upon the questions between these races'.' It is all 
very well for us to have sympathy lor the poor and the unfor- 
tunate, but both sides call for our sympathy in the South. The 
master, who, by his wickedness and lolly, has involved himself 
in the troubles that now beset him, has returned, abandoning his 
rebellion, and has bent down upon his humble knees and asked 
the forgiveness of the Government, and to be restored again as 
a citizen. Can a man go further than that? He has been in 
many cases pardoned by the Executive. lie stands again as a 
citizen of the country. 

" What relation do we desire that the people of the North 
shall sustain toward these people of the South — one of harmony 
and accord, or of strife and ill will? Do we want to restore 
commerce and trade with them, that we shall prosper therein- as 
well as they, or do we wish permanent strife and division? I 
want this to be a Union in form, under the Constitution of the 
United States, and, in fact, by the harmony of the people of 
the North and of the South. I believe, as General Grant says, 
that this bureau, especially with the enlarged power- that we 
propose to confer upon it, will not be an instrument of con 
ami harmony, but will be one of discord and strife in that - ■ - 
tion of the country. It can not do good, but, in my judgment, 
will do much harm." 



120 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 

Following immediately upon the close of the above argument, 
Mr, Trumbull made the following reply: " Mr. President, I feel 
it incumbent on me to reply to some of the arguments presented 
l>v the Senator from Indiana against this bill. Many of the 
positions he has assumed will be found, upon examination, to 
have no foundation in fact. lie has argued against provisions 
not contained in tin' hill, and he has argued also as it' he were 

entirely forgetful of the c lition <>f the country and of the 

great war through which vve have passed. 

•■ Now, sir, what was the object of the Freednien's Bureau, and 
why was it established? It was established to look after a larj 
class of people who, as the results of the war, had been thrown 
upon the hands ut' the Government, and must have perished but 
for its fostering care and protection. Does the Senator mean to 
deny tin' power of this Government to protect people under such 
circumstances? The Senator must often have voted for appropri- 
ations to protect other classes of people under like circumstances. 
Whenever, in the history of the Government, there ha- been 
thrown upon it a helpless population, which must starve and die 
Imt tin- its care, the Government has never failed to provide for 
them. At this very session, within the last thirty day-, both 
houses of Congress have voted halt' a million dollars to i'ved and 
clothe people during the present winter. Who were they'.' Many 
of them were Indian- who had joined the rebellion, and had slain 
loyal people of the country. Yes, sir, we appropriated money to 
teed Indian- who had been fighting against us. We did not hear 
the Senator's voice in opposition to that appropriation. \\ hat 
were the facts? It was stated by our Indian agents that the In- 
dian tribes west of Arkansas, a part of whom had joined the rebel 
armies and some the Union armies, had been driven from their 
country; that their property had been destroyed; and now, the 
conflict of arms having ceased, the} had nothing to live upon dur- 
ing the winter; that they would encroach upon the white settle- 
ments; that unless provision was made for them, they would rob, 
plunder, and murder the inhabitants aearest them; and Congress 
was called upon to appropriate money to buy them food and 
clothing, and we did ii. We did it for rebels and traitor.-. Were 
w e not hound to do it '.' 

Now, sir, we have thrown upon US four million people win- 
have toiled all their lives i'"V others; who, unlike the Indian.-, 



THE FREEDMEM. 121 

had no property at the beginning of the rebellion; who were 
never permitted to own any thing, never permitted to eat the 
bread their own hands had earned; many of whom are without 
support, in the midst of a prejudiced and hostile population who 
have been struggling to overthrow the Government. These four 
million people, made free by the acts of war and the constitu- 
tional amendment, have been, wherever they could, loyal and 
true to the Union; and the Senator seriously asks, What author- 
ity have we to appropriate money to take eare of them? What 
would he do with them? Would he allow them to starve and 
die? Would he turn them over to the mercy of the men who, 
through their whole lives, have had their earnings, to be en- 
slaved again? It is not the first time that money has been appro- 
priated to take eare of the destitute and suffering African. For 
years it has been the law that whenever persons of African de- 
scent were brought to our shores with the intention of reducing 
them to shivery, the Government should, if possible, rescue and 
restore them to their native land; and we have appropriated hun- 
dreds of thousands of dollars for this object. Can any body deny 
the right to do it? Sir, humanity as well as the constitutional 
obligation to suppress the slave trade required it. So now the 
people relieved by our act from the control of masters who sup- 
plied their wants that they might have their services, have a right 
to rely upon us for assistance till they can have time to provide 
for themselves. 

" This Freedmen's Bureau is not intended as a permanent in- 
stitution ; it is only designed to aid these helpless, ignorant, and 
unprotected people until they can provide for and take care of 
themselves. The authority to do this, so far as legislative sanc- 
tion can give it, is to be found in the action of a previous Congress 
which established the bureau; but, if it were a new question, the 
authority for establishing such a bureau, in my judgment, is given 
by the Constitution itself; and as the Senator's whole argument 
goes upon the idea of peace, and that all the eonsequenecs of the 
war have ceased, I shall be pardoned, I trust, if I refer to those 
provisions of the Constitution which, in my judgment, authorize 
the exercise of this military jurisdiction ; for this bureau is a part 
of the military establishment not simply during the conflict of 
arms, but until peace shall be firmly established and the civil tri- 



the tiiii;t)--m.yth CONGRESS. 

burials of the country shal] be restored with an assurance that they 
may peacefully enforce the laws without opposition. 

"The Constitution of the United States declares that Congress 
shall have authority 'to declare war and make rule- concerning 
captures on land and water/ 'to raise and support armies,' 'to 
provide and maintain a navy,' 'to make rules for the govern- 
ment and regulation of tin' land and naval forces/ 'to provide 
for calling forth the militia to execute the law- of the Union, 
suppress insurrection, and repel invasion, 5 and ' t<> make all 1: - 
which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution 
the foregoing powers.' It also declares that 'the citizen- of each 
State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of 
citizens in the several States,' and that 'the United State- -hall 
guarantee to every State in the Union a republican form of gov- 
ernment.' Under the exercise of these power-, the Government 
has gone through a four years' conflict. It ha.- succeeded in put- 
ting down armed resistance to it- authority. But did the mili- 
tary power which was exercised to put down this armed resistance 
cease the moment the rebel armies were dispersed? Has the 
Government no authority to bring to punishment the authors 
of this rebellion after the conflict of arms has ceased? no author- 
ity to hold as prisoners, it" necessary, all who have been captured 
with arms in their hands? Can it be that, the moment the rebel 
armies are dispersed, the military authority ceases, and they are 
to be turned loose to arm and organize again for another conflict 
against the Union? Why. sir, it would nol be more preposterous 
on the part of the traveler, after having, at the peril of lus life, 
succeeded in disarming a highwayman by whom he was assailed, 
to immediately turn round and restore to the robber hi- weapons 
with which to make a new assault. 

•• And yet this is what some gentlemen would have this nation 
do with the worse than robbers who have assailed it- lite. They 
prop..-', the rebel armies being overcome, tint the rebels them- 
selves .-hall lie instantly clothed with all the authority they pos- 
ted before the conflict, and that the- inhabitants of State- who 
for more than four years have carried on an organized war against 
the Government -hall at once be invested with all the powers they 
had a; it- commencement to organize and begin it anew: nay, 
more, they insist that, without any action of the Government, it 
i- the right of the inhabitant- of the rebellious States, on laying 



THE FREEDMEN. 123 

down their arms, to resume their former positions in the Union, 
with all the rights they possessed when they began the war. If 
such are the consequences of this struggle, it is the first conflict 
in the history of the world, between either individuals or nations, 
from which such results have followed. What man, after being 
despoiled of much of his substance, his children slain, his own life 
periled, and his body bleeding from many wounds, ever restored 
the authors of such calamities, when within his power, to the 
rights they possessed before the conflict without taking some se- 
curity for the future. 

•■ Sir, the war powers of the Government do not cease with the 
dispersion of the rebel armies; they are to be continued and 
exercised until the civil authority of the Government can be es- 
tablished firmly and upon a sure foundation, not again to In' dis- 
turbed or interfered with. And such, sir, is the understanding 
of the Government. None of the departments of the Govern- 
ment understand that its military authority has ceased to operate 
over the rebellious States. It is but a short time since the Pres- 
ident of the United States issued a proclamation restoring the 
privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the loyal States; but 
did he restore it in the rebellious States'.' Certainly not. What 
authority has he to suspend the privilege of that writ anywhere, 
except in pursuance of the constitutional provision allowing- the 
writ to 1).' suspended 'when in cases of rebellion or invasion the 
public safety may require it?' Then the President understand- 
that the public safety in the insurrectionary States >till requires 
its suspension. 

"The Attorney-General, when asked, a few days ago, why Jef- 
ferson Davis was not put upon trial, told you that, 'though act- 
ive hostilities have ceased, a state of war still exists over the 
territory in rebellion,' so that it could not he properly done. 

General Grant, in an order issued within a few dayi which I 

commend to the especial consideration of the Senator from Indi- 
ana, tor it contains many of the provisions of the hill under 
consideration — an order issued with the approbation of the Ex- 
ecutive, for such an order, I apprehend, could not have been 
issued without his approbation — directs 'military division and 
department commanders, whose commands embrace or are com- 
posed of any of the late rebellions States, and who have not 
already done so, will at once issue and enforce orders protecting 



JJ4 THE THIRTY-JflJfTR CONGRESS. 

from prosecution or suits in the State, or municipal courts of 
such State, all officers and soldiers of the armies of the United 
States, and all persons thereto attached, or in anywise thereto 
belonging, subject t<> military authority, charged with offene s 
t'lir acts done in their military capacity, or pursuant to orders 
from proper military authority; ami to protect from suit or 
prosecution all loyal citizens or persons charged with offene - 
done against the rebel forces, directly or indirectly, during the 
existence of the rebellion; ami nil persons, their agents ami em- 
ployes, charged with the occupancy of abandoned lands or plan- 
tations, or the possession or custody of any kind of property 

whatever, wb scupied, used, possessed, or controlled the same, 

pursuant to the order of the President, or any of the civil or 
military departments of the Government, and to protect them 
from any penalties or damages that may have been or may he 
pronounced or adjudged in .-aid courts in any of such cases; and 
also protecting colored persons from prosecutions, in any of said 
States, charged with offenses for which white persons are not 
prosecuted or punished in the same manner and degree." 

Mr. Saulsbury having asked whether the Senator believed that 
General Grant or the President had any constitutional authority 
to make such an order as that, Mr. Trumbull replied: " 1 am. 
very glad the Senator from Delaware has asked the question. 1 
answer, he had most ample and complete authority. I indorse 
the order ami every word of it. It would he monstrous if the 
officers and soldiers of the army and loyal citizens were to be 
subjected to suits and prosecutions for acts done in sawng the 
republic, and that, to.., at the hand- of the very men who sought 
ii> destruction. Why, had not the Lieutenant-General author- 
ity to issue the order? Have not the civil tribunals in all 
the region of country to which order applies been expelled by 
armed rebels and traitors".' Has not the power of the Govern- 
ment been overthrown there.' I> it yet reestablished? Some 
steps have been taken toward reestablishing it under the author- 
ity of the military, and in no other way. It' any of the State 
governments recently set up in the rebellious States were to un- 
dertake to embarrass military operations, 1 have uo doubt they 
would at once he set aside by order of the Lieutenant-General, 
in pursuance of directions from the Executn These govern- 
ments which have been set up act by permission of th" mili- 



THE FREEBMEX. 125 

tary. They are made use of, to sonic extent, to preserve peace 
and order and enforce civil rights between parties; and, so far 
as they act in harmony with the Constitution and laws of the 
United States and the orders of the military commanders, they 
are permitted to exercise authority ; but until those States shall 
be restored in all their constitutional relations to the In ion, 
they ought not to be permitted to exercise authority in any other 
way. 

" I desire the Senator from Indiana to understand that it is un- 
der this war power that the authority of the Freedmen's Bureau 
is to be exercised. I do not claim that its officers can try persons 
for offenses without juries in States where the civil tribunals have 
not been interrupted by the rebellion. The Senator from Indiana 
argue- against this bill as if it was applicable to that State. Some 
of its provisions are, but most of them are not, unless the State 
of Indiana has been in rebellion against the Government; and I 
know too many of the brave men who have gone from that State 
to mantain the integrity of the Union and put down the rebellion 
to east any such imputation upon her. She is a loyal and a patri- 
otic State; her civil government has never been usurped or over- 
thrown by trators, and the provisions of the seventh and eighth 
sections of the bill to which the Senator alludes can not, by their 
very terms, have any application to the State of Indiana. Let me 
read the concluding sentence of the eighth section: 

" 'The jurisdiction conferred by this section on the officers and agents of 
this bureau to cease and determine whenever the discrimination on account 
of which it is conferred ceases, and in no event to be exercised in any State 
in which the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has not been inter- 
rupted by the rebellion, nor in any such State after said State shall have 
been fully restored in all its constitutional relations to the United States, and 
the courts of the State and of the United States within the same are not dis- 
turbed or stopped in the peaceable course of justice.' 

"Will the Senator from Indiana admit for a moment that the 
courts in his State are now disturbed or stopped in the peaceable 
course of justice? If they were ever so disturbed, they are not 
now. Will the Senator admit that the State of Indiana does not 
have and exercise all its constitutional rights as one id' the States 
of this Union? The judicial authority conferred by this bill ap- 
plies to no State, not even to South Carolina, after it shall have 
been restored in all its constitutional rights. 



126 THE Til 1 in')'-. \ 7. \' Til CONGRESS. 

"There is ao provision in the bill for the exercise of judicial 
authority except in the eighth section. Rights arc declared in 
the seventh, but the i le of protecting them is provided in the 

ajhth section, and the eighth section then declares explicitly that 
the jurisdiction that is conferred shall be exercised only in States 
which do not possess lull constitutional rights as pari- of the 
Union. Indiana has at all times had all the constitutional rights 
pertaining to any State, has them now, and therefore the officers 
and agents "I" this bureau can take uo jurisdiction of any case in 
the State of Indiana. It will be another question, which I will 
answer, and may as well answer now, perhaps, as to what is meant 
by ' military protection.' 

"The second section declares that ' the President of the United 
States, through the War Department and the commissioner, -hall 
extend military jurisdiction and protection over all employes, 
agents, and officers of this bureau.' He want- to know the eflfect 
of that in Indiana. This bureau is a pari of the military estab- 
lishment. The effeel of thai in Indiana is precisely the same as 
in every other State, and under it the officers and agents of 
Freed men's Bureau will occupy the same position as do the offi- 
cers and soldiers of the United States Army. What is that? 
While they are subjecl to the Rules and Article- of War. it' they 
chance to be in Indiana and violate her laws, they are held amen- 
able the same as any other person. The officer or soldier in the 
State of Indiana who commit.- a murder or other offense upon a 
citizen of Indiana, is liable to be indicted, tried, and punished, 
jus! as it' he were a civilian. When the sheriff goes with the 
process to arrest the soldier or officer who has committed the of- 
fense, the military authorities surrender him up to be tried and 
punished according to the laws of the State. It has always been 
done, nide-- in time of war when the court- were interrupted. 
The jurisdiction and f protection ' that is extended over these offi- 
cers and agents is for the purpose of making them subjecl to the 
Rules and Articles of War. It is necessary for this reason: in 
the rebellious States civil authority is not yet fully restored. 
There would be no other way of punishing them, of holding them 

to a< mtability, of governing and controlling them, in many 

portion.- of the country ; and it is because of the condition of the 
rebellious States, and their still being - under military authority, 



THE FREEDMEN. 127 

that it is necessary to jmt these officers and agents of the Freed- 
men's Bureau under the control of the military power. 

"The Senator says the original law only embraced within its 
provisions the refugees in the rebellious States; and now this bill 

is extended to all the States and lie wants to know the reason. I 
will tell him. When the original hill was passed, slavery existed 
in Tennessee, Kentucky, Delaware, and in various other States. 
Since that time, by the constitutional amendment, it has been 
every- where abolished." 

Mr. Saulsbury, aroused by the mention of his own State, inter- 
rupted the speaker: " 1 say, as one of the representatives of Dela- 
ware on this floor, that she had the proud and noble character of 
being the first to enter the Federal Union under a Constitution 
formed by equals. She has been the very last to obey a mandate, 
legislative or executive, for abolishing slavery. She has been the 
last slaveholding State, thank God, in America, and I am one of 
the last slaveholders in America." 

Mr. Trumbull continued: "Well, Mr. President, I do not see 
particularly what the declaration of the Senator from Delaware 
has to do with the question I am discussing. His State may 
have been the last to become free, but I presume that the State 
of Delaware, old as she is, being the first to adopt the Constitu- 
tion, and noble as she is, will submit to the Constitution of the 
United States which declares that there shall be no slavery within 
its jurisdiction." [Applause in the galleries.] 

" It is necessary, Mr. President, to extend the Freedmen's 
Bureau beyond the rebel States in order to take in the State of 
Delaware, [laughter,] the loyal State of Delaware, I am happy 
to say, which did not engage in this wicked rebellion; and it is 
necessary to protect the freedmen in that State as well as else- 
where: and that is the reason for extending the Freedmen's 
Bureau beyond the limits of the rebellious States. 

"Now, the Senator from Indiana says it extends all over the 
United States. Well, by its terms it does, though practically it 
ran have little if any operation outside of the late slaveholding 
States. If freedmen should congregate in large numbers at ( 'airo, 
• Illinois, or at Evansville, Indiana, and become a charge upon the 
people of those States, the Freedmen's Bureau would have a right 
to extend its jurisdiction over them, provide for their wants, secure 
for them employment, and place them in situations where they 



12 S Til A' 77/ / B TY-XIN Til ( 'O. \ G R ESS. 

could provide for themselves; and would the State of Ellinois or 
the State of [ndiana objecl to that? The provisions of the Mil 
which would interfere with the laws of [ndiana can have no oper- 
ation there. 

"Again, the Senator objects very much to the expense of this 
■bureau. Why, sir, as I have once <>r twice before said, it is a 
part of the military establishment. 1 believe nearly all it- officers 
at the present time are military officers, and l>y the provisions <»t' 
the pending bill they are to receive no additional compensation 
when performing duties in the Freedraen's Bureau. The l>ill 
declares thai the 'bureau may, in the discretion of the President, 
be placed under a commissioner and assistant commissioners, to 
be detailed from the army, in which event each officer so assigned 
to duty shall serve without increase of pay or allowances. 5 

"I shall necessarily, Mr. President, in following the Senator 
from Indiana, speak somewhat in a desultory manner: but \ 
prefer to do so because I would rather meet the objections made 
directly than by any general speech. I will, therefore, take up 
his next objection, which is to the fifth section of the hill. That 
section proposes to confirm tor three years the |« rv titles 

"ranted by General Sherman. The Senator from Indiana admits 
that General Sherman had authority, when at the head of the 
army at Savannah, and these people were flocking around him 
and dependent upon him for support, to put them upon the alxan- 
doned lands; hut he says that authority to put them there and 
maintain them there ceased with peace. Well, sir, a sufficient 
answer to that would he that peace has not yet come; the etfects 
of war are not yet ended ; the people of the St:ite< of Smith ( !ai*(>- 

lina, Georgia, and Florida, where these lands are situated, are vet 
subject to military control. But I deny that if peace had come the 
authority of the ( rovernmenl to protect these people in their posses- 
sions would cease the moment it was declared. What are the facts'.' 
The owners of these plantations had abandoned them and entered 
the rebel army. They were contending agaiust the army which 
General Sherman then commanded. Numerous colored people 
had flocked around General Sherman's army. It wa- necessary 
thai lie should supply them to save them from starvation. Hi- 
commissariat was short. Here was this abandoned count r\ . owned 
by men arrayed in arm- against the Government. lie. it is 
admitted, had authority t<> put these followers of hi- army upon 



THE FEEEDMEN. 1J!> 

these lands, and authorize them to go to work and gain a subsist- 
ence if they could. They went on the lands to tl e number of 
forty or fifty thousand, commenced work, have made improve- 
ments; and now will the Senator from Indiana tell me thai upon 
any principle of justice, humanity, or law, if peace had come 
when these laborers had a crop half gathered, the Government 
of the United States, having rightfully placed tl em in posses- 
sion, and pledged its faith to protect them there for an uncertain 
period, could immediately have turned them off and put in pos- 
session those traitor owners who had abandoned their homes to 
fight against the Government? 

"The Government having placed these people rightfully upon 
these lands, and they having expended their labor upon them, 
they had a right to be protected in their possessions, for some 
length of time after peace, on the principle of equity. That is all 
we propose to do by this bill. The committee thought it would 
not be more than a reasonable protection to allow them to remain 
for three years, they having been put upon these lands destitute, 
without any implements of husbandry, without cattle, horses, or 
any thing else with which to cultivate the land, and having, up 
to the present time, been able to raise very little at the expense 
of great labor. Perhaps the Senator thinks they ought not to 
remain so long. I will not dispute whether they shall go off at 
the end of one year or two years. The committee propose two 
years more. The order was dated in January, 1865, and we pro- 
pose three years from that time, which will expire in January, 
1868, or about two years from this time. 

" On account of that provision of the bill, the Senator asks me 
the question whether the Government of the United States has 
the right, in a time of peace, to take property from one man and 
give it to another. I say no. Of course the Government of the 
United States has no authority, in a time of peace, by a legis- 
lative act, to say that the farm of the Senator from Indiana shall 
be given. to the Senator from Ohio; I contend for no such prin- 
ciple. But following that up, the Senator wants to know by 
what authority you buy land or provide school-houses for these 
refugees. Have we not been providing school-houses for years? 
Is there a session of Congress when acts are not passed giving 
away public lands for the benefit of schools? But that doe- not 
come out of the Treasury, the Senator from Indiana will prob- 
9 



ISO THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

ably answer. Hut how did vou get the land to give away? Did 
you nol buy it of the Indians? Are you no! appropriating, every 
a --i..i! of t tongn 5S, money by the million to extinguish the Indian 
title — money collected off his constituents and mine by taxation? 
We buy the laud and then we give the land away for schools. 
W ill the Senator tell me how that differs from giving the money? 
Does it make any difference whether we buy tin- land from the 
Indian- and give it for the benefit of schools, or whether we buy 
it from some rebel and l: i \ < — no, sir, us< — it for the benefit of 

ools, with a view ultimately of selling it for at least it- cost? 
1 believe I would rather buy from the Indian; but still, if the 
traitor is to be permitted to have a title, we will buy it from him 
if we can purchase cheaper. 

"Sir, it is a matter of economy to do this. The cheapest way 
l>y which you can save this rare from starvation and destruction 
is to educate them. They will then soon become self-sustainu _ 
The report of the Freedmen's Bureau shows that to-day more 
than seventy thousand black children are being taught in the 
schools which have been established in the Smith. We shall not 
long have to support any of these blacks out of the public Tr< i -- 
nry if we educate and furnish them land upon which they can 
make a living for themselves. This is a very different thing 
from taking the land of A and giving it to B by an act of Con- 
gress. 

• But the Senator is mosl alarmed at those sections of this hill 
which confer judicial authority upon the officers and agents of 
the Freedmen's Bureau. He says if this authority can be exer- 
cised there is an end to all the reserved rights of the States, and 
this Government may do any thing. Nol at all, sir. The author- 
ity, as 1 have already shown, to be exercised under the seventh 
and eighth sections, is a military authority, to be exerted only in 
regions of country where the civil tribunals are overthrown, and 
not there after they arc restored. It is the same authority that 
we have been exercising all the time in the rebellious States; it 
i- the same authority by virtue of which General Grant issued 
the order which 1 have just read. Here is a perfect and compli I 
answer to the objection that i- made to the seventh and eighth 

tions. 

•• But, says the Senator from Indiana, we have laws in Indiana 
prohibiting black people from marrying white-, and are you going 



THE F REED M EX. 131 

to disregard these laws? Are our laws enacted for the purpose 
of preventing amalgamation to be disregarded, and is a man to 
be punished because he undertakes to enforce them? I beg the 
Senator from Indiana to read the bill. One of its objects is to 
secure the same civil rights and subject to the same punishments 
persons of all races and colors. How does this interfere with the 
law of Indiana preventing marriages between whites and blacks? 
Are no! both race- treated alike by the law of Indiana? Do 
not the law make it just as much a crime for a white man to 
marry a black woman as for a black woman to marry a white 
man, and vice versa? I presume there is no discrimination in 
this respect, and therefore your law forbidding marriages between 
whites and blacks operates alike on both races. This bill does 
not interfere with it. If the negro is denied the right to marry 
a white person, the white person is equally denied the right to 
marrv the negro. I see no discrimination against either in this 
respect that does not apply to both. Make the penalty the same 
on all classes of people for the same offense, and then no one can 
complain. 

" My object in bringing forward these bills was to bring to the 
attention of Congress something that was practical, something 
upon which I hoped we all could agree. I have said nothing in 
these bills which are pending, and which have been recommended 
by the Committee on the Judiciary — and I speak of both of them 
because they have both been alluded to in this discussion — about 
the political rights of the negro. On that subject it is known 
that there are differences of opinion, but I trust there are no 
differences of opinion among the friends of the constitutional 
amendment, among those who are for real freedom to the black 
man, as to his being entitled to equality in civil rights. If that 
is not going as far as some gentlemen would desire, I say to them 
it is a step in the right direction. Let us go that far, and, going 
that far, we have the cooperation of the Executive Department; 
for the President lias told us 'Good faith requires the security 
of the freedmen in their liberty and their property, their right to 
labor, and their right to claim the just return of their labor. * 

••Such, sir, is the language of the President of the United 
States in his annual message; and who in this chamber that is 
in favor of the freedom of the slave is not in favor of giving him 
equal and exact justice before the law? Sir, we can go along- 



77/ A' 77/ / E T i '-. \ 'I. YTH COJS 6 R ES v 

hand in hand together to the consummation of this great o 

securing to every human being within the jurisdiction of the 
republic equal rights bi fore the law, and I preferred k 

for points of agr< menl between all the departments of Govern- 

. rather than to limit for point- of divergence. I have n 
said any thing in my remarks about reconstruction. I have not 

impl "! to discuss the question whether these States are in the 

si. in or out of the Union, and so much has been said upon that 
subject that I am almosl ready to exclaim with one of old, ' 1 
knuv. not whether they are in the body or out of the body; God 
knoweth. 5 It is enough i'<>r me to know that the State organiza- 

ls in several States of the Union have been usurped and ovi 
thrown, and that up to the present time no State organization 
has been inaugurated in either of them which the various depart- 

mts of < rovernment, or any department of the Government, 1 - 
recognized as placing the State- in full possession of all the con- 
stitutional rights pertaining to State- in full communion with I 
1 fnion. 

"The Executive has n<>t recognized anyone, for he still con- 
tinues to exercise military jurisdiction and to suspend the privil< s> 
of the writ of habeas corpus in all of them. Congress has 

sognized any of them, as we all know ; and until Congress and 
the Executive do recognize them, let us make use of the Freed- 
raen's Bureau, already established, to protect the colored race in 
their rights; and when these State- -hall be admitted, and the 
authority of the Freedmen's Bureau as a court shall cease and 
termine, as it must when civil authority is fully restored, let us 
provide, then, by other laws, for protecting all people in their equal 
civil rights before the law. 1 i' we can pass such measures, tl 

:eive executive sanction, and it shall be understood that it is the 
policy of the Government that the rights of the colored men are 
to be protected by the Stan.- if they will, but by the Federal Gov- 
ernment if tiny will not ; that at all hazard.-, ami under all cir- 
cumstances, there shall be impartiality among all classes in civil 
rights throughout the land. It' we can d<> this much of the ap- 
prehension and anxiety now existing in the loyal State- will he 
allayed, and a greal obstacle to an early restoration of the insur- 
gent States to their constitutional relations in the Union will be 
removed. 

" If the people in the rebellious §1 - san be made to under- 



THE FREEDMEjY. 1 

stand that it is the fixed and determined policy of the ( Jovernment 
that the colored people shall be protected in their civil rights, tl 
themselves will adopt the necessary measures to protect them ; and 
that will dispense with the Freedmen's Bureau and all other Fed- 
eral legislation for their protection. The design of these bills is 
not, as the Senator from Indiana would have us believe, to consol- 
idate all power in the Federal Government, or to interfere with 
the domestic regulations of any of the States, except so far as to 
carry out a constitutional provision winch is the supreme law of 
the land. If the States will not do it, then it is incumbent on 
Congress to do it. But if the States will do it, then the Freed- 

to 

men's Bureau will be removed, and the authority proposed to be 
given bv the other bill will have no operation. 

to . x 

•• Sir, f trust there may be no occasion long" to exercise the 
authority conferred by this bill. I hope that the people of the 
rebellious States themselves will conform to the existing condition 
of things. I do not expect them to change all their opinions and 
prejudices. I do not expect them to rejoice that the)' have been 
discomfited. But they acknowledge that the war is over; they 
agree that they can no longer contend in arms against the Gov- 
ernment ; they say they are willing to submit to its authority; 
thev say in their State conventions that slavery shall no more 
exist among them. With the abolition of slavery should go all 
the badges of servitude which have been enacted for its mainten- 

to 

ance and support. Let them all be abolished. Let the people 
of the rebellious States now be as zealous and as active in the 
passage of laws and the inauguration of measures to elevate, de- 
velop, and improve the negro as they have hitherto been to en- 
slave and degrade him. Let them do justice and deal fairly with 
loyal Union men in their midst, and henceforth be themselves 
loyal, and this Congress will not have adjourned till the Stairs 
whose inhabitants have been engaged in the rebellion will be re- 
stored to their former position in the Union, and we shall all be 
moving on in harmony together." 

On the day following the discussion above given. Mr. Cowan 
moved to amend the first section of the bill so that its operation 
would be limited to such States " as have lately been in rebellion." 
In supporting his amendment, Mr. Cowan remarked: " 1 have no 
idea of having this system extended over Pennsylvania. I think 
that as to the freedmen who make their appearance there, she will 



/• THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

ke care of them and provide as well for them as any 
■van which cm be created here. 1 wish t< lie opera- 

tion of i is institution to tin - I is which hav i lately 

\ [r. Trumbull ■! : " The ; r from Penn 

vania will see that the effect "!' that would exclude 

operation of the bureau the : ucky and tin 3l 

Delaware, where ves have been emancipated by th 

stitutional amendment. The operation of the bureau will un- 
doubtedly be chiefly confined to the States where slavery exist 
bul it is a fact which may uot be known to the Senator from Penn- 
sylvania, that during this war large numbers of slaves have fled 
the Northern States bordering on the slaveholding territory. 
"It is not supposed that the bill will have any effect in the 
Si te of Pennsylvania or in the State of Illinois, unless it might, 
perhaps, be at Cairo, where there has been a large number of th< - 

_ a d, without any means of support; they fol- 
io 1 army thereat different times. 

••The provision of the bill in regard to holding courts, and 
po visions, arc confined entirely to the rebellious Stal 
and will have no operation in any State which was not in in.-nr- 
tion against this Government. I make this explanation to the 
- iator from Pennsylvania, and 1 think he will see the m 
of the bur joing inl itucky ami some of the other Si 

mch a- int" any of the Southern rebellious Stal 
.Mr. Guthrie was opposed \>> th i f the bill to his 

;; aid: '• I should like to know the peculiar reasons 
why this bill is to be extended to the State K ntucky. She! 
i, been in rebellion. Though she h - run by rebel 

an fields laid waste, she has always had her full quota 

in the Union armies, and the M I of her sons has marked the 

fields whereon they have fought. Kentucky does not wan; and 
- not ask this relief. The freedmen in Kentucky are a part 
of our population; and where the old, and lame, and halt, and 
blind, and iufants rcqi md attention they obtain it from 

i counties. Our who! tion for the support of the 

I or, through tl the magistrates in t un- 

ties, is compl* i . 

( >ii tl ther hand. Mr. < peswell, of Mar land, -aw a u cessity 

the operation of the bill in hi .He said: "1 have re- 



THE FREEDMEN. 135 

ceived, within the last two or three weeks, letters from gentlemen 
of the highest respectability in my State, asserting that combina- 
tions <>f returned rebel soldiers have been formed for the expr< 
purpose of persecuting, beating mosl cruelly, and in some cases 
actually murdering the returned colored soldiers of the republic. 
In certain sections of my State, the civil law affords no remedy 
at all. It is impossible there to enforce againsl these people so 
violating the law the penalties which the law has prescribed for 
these offenses. It is, therefore, necessary, in my opinion, that 
this hill -hall extend over the State of Maryland." 

Mr. Cowan, in the course of a speech on the bill, said: "Thank 
God! we are now rid of slavery ; that is now gone." He also 
said: "Let the friends of the negro, and I am one, be satisfied 
to treat him as he is treated in Pennsylvania; as he is treated in 
Ohio; as he is treated every-where where people have maintained 
their sanity upon the question." 

Mr. Wilson said: "The Senator from Pennsylvania tells us 
that he is the friend of the negro. What, sir, he the friend of 
the negro! Why, sir, there has hardly been a proposition before 
the Senate of the United States for the last five years, looking to 
the emancipation of the negro and the protection of his rights, 
that the Senator from Pennsylvania has not sturdily opposed. 
He has hardly ever uttered a word upon this floor the tendency 
of which was not to degrade and to belittle a weak" and struggling 
race. He comes here to-day and thanks God that they are free, 
when his vote and his voice for five years, with hardly an excep- 
tion, have been against making them free.- He thanks (hid, sir, 
that your work and mine, our work which has saved a country 
and emancipated a race, is secured; while from the word f go/ to 
this time, he has made himself the champion of ' how no 4 to do 
it.' If there be a man on the floor of the American Senate who 
lias tortured the Constitution of the country to find powers to 
arrest the voice of this nation which was endeavoring to make 
a race free, the Senator from Pennsylvania is the man; and now 
he com.- here and thanks God that a work- which he has done 
his best to arrest, and which we have carried, is accomplished. I 
tell him to-day that we shall carry these other measures, whether 
he thank- God for them or not, whether he opposes them or not.'' 
[Laughter and applause in the galleries.] 

After an extended discussion, the Senate refused, by a vote of 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRE& 

thirty-three against eleven, to adopt the amendment p I by 

Mr. < low; 11. 

• bill was further discussed during three successive days, 

M 3srs. S ■. Eendricks, Johnson, McDougall, and Davis 

the measure, and Messrs. 1" ssenden, Creswell, 

and Trumbull in favor of it. Mr. Garrett Davis addressed the 

e thau once on the subject, and on tin- last day of the 

--ion made a very long speech, which was answered by Mr. 

Tru iibull. The Senator from Illinois, at the conclusion of his 

speech, remarked : 

V] ; I have now said embraces, I believe, all the points of 
the long gentleman's speech except the sound and fury, and that 
1 will not undertake to reply to." 

"You mean the short gentleman's long speech," interpi 
some Senator. 

"Did 1 say short V" ashed Mr. Trumbull. "If so, it was a 
great mistake to -peak of any thing connected with the Senator 
from Kentucky as short." [Laughter.] 

•• [t is long enough to reach you," responded Mr. Davis. 
The vote was soon after taken on the passage of the bill, with 
the following result : 

5Tkas — Messra Anthony. Brown, Chandler, Clark. Conness, Cragin, Cres- 
well, Dixon, Doolittli nden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Harris, Henderson, 
Howard, Howe, Kirkwood, Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, M rgan, Mor- 
rill, Norton, Nye, Poland, Poineroy, Ramsey, Sherman, Spragu Stewart, 
Sumner, Trumbull, Van Winkle. Wade, Williams, Wilson, and Y- 

Nays— Messrs. Buckalew, l>a\i-. Guthrie, Hendricks, Johnson, MeDouj 
Riddle, Saulshury, Stockton, and Wright— 10. 

Absent — Messrs. Cowan, Nesmith, and Willej — '■>. 

The bill baving passed, the question came up as to it- title, 
which it was proposed to leave as reported by the committi ' A 
bill to enlarge the power.- of the Freednn m'- Bureau." 

Mr. Davis moved to amend the title by substituting Cor it. 
'• A bill to appropriate a portion of the public land in some of 
the Southern States and to authorize the United Stan- Govern- 
ment to purchase land- to supply farms and build houses upon 
them for the freed uegroesj to promote strife and conflict between 
the white and black races; and to invest the Freedmen's Bureau 
with unconstitutional pow< rs to aid and assist the black-, and to 
introduce military power t<> prevent the commissioner and other 



THE FREEDME.Y. 137 

officers of said bureau from being restrained or held responsible in 
civil courts for their illegal acts in rendering such aid and assist- 
ance to tiic blacks, and for other purposes." 

The President pro tempore pronounced the amendment "not 
in order, inconsistent with the character of the bill, derogatory to 
the Senate, a reproach to its members." 

Mr. McDougall declared the proposed amendment "an insult 
to the action of the Senate." 

The unfortunate proposition was quietly abandoned by its au- 
thor, and passed over without further notice by the Senate. By 
unanimous consent, the title of the bill remained as first reported. 



13 S THE THIRTY-MXT If CONGRESS. 



CHAPTEE VII. 

the freedmen's bureau bill in the house. 

The Bill reported to the House — Mr. Eliot's Speech — History — Mr. 
.Dawson vs. the Negro — Mr. Garfield— The Idol Broken — Mi: Taylor 
sts the Cost -Mi:. Donnelly's Amendment — Mr. Kerr — Mi:. Mar- 
shall on White Slavery — Mi;. Hubbard — Mr. Moulton — Opposition 
i.m Kentucky — Mi:. Ritter— Mr. Rousseau's Threat — Mr. Shank- 
lin's Gloomy Prospect — Mr. Trimble's Appeal — Mi:. McKee \x ex- 
ceptional Kentuckian — Mr. Grinnell on Kentucky — Tin: Example 
of Russi.a -Mr. Phelps — Mi:. Shellabarger's Amendment — Mr. Chax- 
ler — Mr. Stevens' Amendments — Mr. Eliot ci in — 

1',- Bill — Yeas and Nays. 

ON the day succeeding the passage of the hill in the Sen; I . 
it was — * • 1 1 1 to the House "t" Representatives, and by them 
referred tu the Select Committee on the Freedmen. 
' ).i the 30th of January, Mr. Eliot, Chairman of this com- 
mittee, reported the hill to tin- House with amendments, mainly 
verbal alterations. 

In a speech, advocating tin' passage of the hill, Mr. Eliot pre- 
sented something of the history of legislation for the freedmen. 
lie said: "On the 3d day of lasi March the hill establishing a 
Freedmen's Bureau became a law. It was novel legislation, 
without precedent in the history of any nation, rendered necessary 
by the rebellion of eleven slave States and the consequent libera- 
tion from slavery of four million persons whose unpaid labor 
had enriched the land- ami impoverished the hearts of their 
rcli masters. 

■ \i an early day, when the fortunes of war had shown alter- 
nate triumphs and defeats to loyal arms, and the timid feared 
and the disloyal hoped, i: was my grateful office to introduce 
the first hill creating a bureau of emancipation. It was during 



THE FREEDMEN. 139 

the Thirty-seventh Congress. But, although the select commit- 
tee 1" which the hill was referred was induced to agree that it 
should be reported to the House, it so happened that the dis- 
tinguished Chairman, Judge White, of Indiana, did not succeed 
in reporting it for our action. At the beginning of the Thirty- 
eighth Congress it was again presented, and very soon was re- 
ported back to the House under the title of 'A hill to establish 
a Bureau of Freedmen's Affairs.' It was fully debated and 
passed by the House. The vote was sixty-nine in favor, and 
sixty— even against the bill; hut of the sixty-seven who opposed 
it, fifty-six had been counted against it, because of their political 
affinities. On the 1st of March, 1864, the bill went to the 
Senate. It came back to the House on the 30th of June, four 
davs before the adjournment of Congress. To my great regret", 
the Senate had passed an amendment in the nature of a sub- 
stitute, attaching this bureau to the Treasury Department; hut 
it was too late to take action upon it then, and the hill was 
postponed until December. At that time the House non-con- 
concurred with the Senate, and a committee of conference was 
chosen. The managers of the two houses could not agree as to 
whether the War Department or the Treasury should manage 
the affairs of the bureau. They therefore agreed upon a bill 
creating an independent department neither attached to the War 
nor Treasury, but communicating directly with the President, 
and resting for its support upon the arm of the War Department. 
That hill was also passed by the House but was defeated in the 
Senate. Another Conference Committee was chosen, and that 
committee, whose chairman in the House was the distinguished 
gentleman from Ohio, then and now at the head of the Military 
Committee, agreed upon a hill attaching the bureau to the War 
Department, and embracing refugees as well as freedmen in its 
as. That hill is now the law. 
•Tiie law was approved on the 3d of March, 1865. Nine 
month- have not yet elapsed since its organization. The order 
from the War Department under which the bureau was organized 
hears date on the 12th of May, 1865. General Howard, who 
was then in command of the Department of Tennessee, was 
assigned as commissioner of the bureau. The hill became a law 
so late in the session that it was impossible for Congress to 
legislate any appropriation for its support. It was accessary, 



lJf.0 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

ther that the management of it should be placed in the 

I- of military officers, and fortunately the provisions of the 
bill permitted that to be done. General Howard was, as 1 
stated, in command of the Department of Tenm a he 

was detailed to this duty. But on the 15th of May, that is to 
say, within three days the order appointing him, was issued, 

he assumed the duties of his offic . 

•• In the course of a few days, the commissioner of the bureau 
announced more particularly the policy which he designed to 
pursue. The whole supervision of the care of freedmen and of 
all lands which the law placed under the charg the bui 

was to be intrusted to assistant commissioners. 

•• Before a month had expired, head-quarters had been estab- 
lished for assistant <(iiiihn.--i-.nci'- at Richmond, Raleigh, Beau- 
Montgomery, Nashville, St. Louis, Vicksburg, New Orleans, 
and Jacksonville, and very shortly afterward assistant commis- 
sioners were designated for those posts of duty. They were re- 
quired to possess themselves, as soon a> practicable, with 
duties incident to their offices, to quicken in every way they 
could and to direct the industry of the freedmen. Notio 
e:iven that the relief establishments which had been created bv 
law under the operations of the War Department should be dis- 
continued as soon as they could be consistently with the con 
and proper protection of the freedmen, and tha ry effort 

should be made — and 1 call the attention of gentlemen to the 
fact that that policy has been pursued throughout — that every 
effort should he made to render the freedmen, at an early day, 
self-supporting. The supplies that had been furnished by the 
Government were only to be continued SO lone.- as the actual 
want- of the freedmen seemed to require it. At that time there 
were all over the country refugees who were seeking their homes, 
and they were notified that, under the care o\' the bureau, they 
would he protected from abuse, and directed in their effort 
ure transportation and proper facilities for reaching home. 

•• \\ i. -ever there had been interruption of civil law, it 
found impossible that the rights of freedmen could he asserted in 
the coin:-; and where there were no courts before which their 
rights could lie brought for adjudication, military tribunal-, pro- 
vost-marshi lurts, were established, for the purpose of de- 

termining upon questions arising betweeu freedmen or I 



THE FREEDMEN. 141 

'men and other parties; and that, also, has been continued to 
this day. 

"The commissioners were instructed to permit the freedmen 
to select their own employers and to choose their own kind of 
service. All agreements were ordered to be free and mutual, and 
not to be compulsory. The old system that had prevailed of 
overseer labor was ordered to be repudiated by the commissioners 
who had charge of the laborers, and I believe there has been no 
time since the organization of the bureau when there have not 
been reports made to head-quarters at Washington of all labor 
contracts; and wherever any provisions had been inserted, by 
inadvertence or otherwise, that seemed unjustly to operate against 
the freedmen, they have been stricken out by direction of the 
commissioner here. 

" In the course of the next month, action was taken by the 
commissioner respecting a provision of the law as it was passed 
in March, authorizing the Secretary of War to make issues of 
clothing and provisions, and the assistant commissioners were re- 
quired carefully to ascertain whatever might be needed under that 
provision of the law, and to make periodical reports as to the de- 
mands made upon the Government through the bureau. Direc- 
tions were given by the commissioner to his assistant commission- 
ers to make repeated reports to him upon all the various subjects 
which had come under his charge— with regard to the number 
of freedmen, where they were, whether in camps or in colonies, 
or whether they were employed upon Government works, and 
stating, if they obtained supplies, how they were furnished, 
whether by donations or whether procured by purchase. Reports 
were also required as to all lands which had been put under the 
care of the bureau; and statements were called for showing de- 
scriptions of the lands, whether, in the language of the law, 
'abandoned' or 'confiscated,' so that the bureau here could have 
full and complete information of all action of its agents through- 
out these States, and upon examination it could be determined 
where any specific lands which were under the charge of the bu- 
reau came from, and how they were derived. 

"In the course of the summer, it became necessary to issue ad- 
ditional instructions. The commissioner found that his way was 
beset with difficulties; he was walking upon unknown ground; he 
was testing here and there questions involved in doubt. It was 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGI 

hardly possible at once and by one order to designate all that it 
would be ueedful for him to do, and, therefore, different instruc- 
tions were issued from time to time from his office. The assist- 
ant commissioners were called upon thoroughly to examine, 
either 1>\ thems or their agents, the respective districts allot- 

ted to them, to make inquiry as to the character of the freedmen 
under their charge, their ability to labor, their disposition to 
labor, and the circumstances under which they were placed, so 
that the aid, the care, and the protection which the law contem- 
plated might be afforded to them as quickly and as economically 
as possible. 

"The commissioner continually repeated his injunctions to his 
assistants to be sure that qo compulsory or unpaid labor was tol- 
erated, and that both the moral and intellectual condition of the 
freedmen should be improved as systematically and as quickly as 
practicable. 

'• When the bureau was firsl organized, indeed when it was first 
urged upon the attention of this House, it was stated and it was 
believed that the bureau would very shortly be self-sustaining. 
That was the idea from the beginning. And when it was stated 
here in debate that the bureau would probably be self-sustaining, 
it was supposed that from the lands abandoned, confiscated, -old, 
and the lands of the United States, which by the provisions of 
the hill had been placed under the care of the commissioner, 
these freedmen would he given an opportunity to earn substan- 
tially enough for the conduct of the bureau. And I have no 
doubt at all that such would have been the case had the original 
expectation been carried out. 

"There were large tracts of land in Virginia ami the other 
rebel States which were clearly applicable to this purpose. There 
was the source of supply — the land- and the labor. There were 
laborers enough, and there was rich land enough. At a very 
early day the abandoned lands were turned over to the care of 
the commissioners, and 1 supposed, and probably we all supposed, 
that the hinds which in the language of the law were known as 

'abandoned land-.' and those which were in the possession of the 
United States, would he appropriated to the uses of these freed- 
men. Within a week after the commissioner assumed the duties 
of hi- office, he found it necessarj to issue an order substantially 
like this: Whereas, Large amounts of land- in the State of Vir- 



THE FREEDMEN. us 

ginia and in other States have been abandoned, and arc now in 
the possession of the freedmen, and arc now under cultivation by 

them; and, whereas, the owners of those lands are now calling 
for their restoration, so as to deprive the freedmen of the results 
of their industry, it is ordered that trie abandoned lands now 
under cultivation be retained by the freedmen until the growing 
crops can be secured, unless full and just compensation can be 
made them for their labor and its products. 

"'The above order' — this is the part about which it appeared 
that some difference of judgment existed between the Executive 
and the commissioner of the bureau — ' the above order will not 
be construed so as to relieve disloyal persons from the conse- 
quences of their disloyalty; and the application for the restora- 
tion of their lands by this class of persons will in no ease be 
entertained by any military authority.' 

" It was found, not a great while afterward, that the views 
which the President entertained as to his duty were somewhat in 
conflict with the provisions of this order; for it was held by the 
President that persons who had brought themselves within the 
range of his pardon and had secured it, and who had taken or 
did afterward take the amnesty oath, would be entitled, as one 
of the results of the pardon and of their position after the oath 
had been taken, to a restoration of their lands which had been 
a-signcd to freedmen. In consequence of this, an order was sub- 
sequently issued, well known as circular No. 15. And under the 
operation of that circular, on its appearing satisfactorily to any 
assistant commissioner that any property under his control is not 
' abandoned,' as defined in the law, and that the United States 
have acquired no perfect right to it, it is to be restored and the 
fact reported to the commissioner. 'Abandoned' lands were to 
be restored to the owners pardoned by the President, by the assist- 
ant commissioners, to whom applications for such restoration were 
to be forwarded; and each application was to be accompanied by 
the pardon of the President and by a copy of the oath of amnesty 
prescribed in the President's proclamation, and also by a proof of 
title to the land. It must be obvious that the effect of this must 
have been to transfer from the care of the bureau to the owners 
very large portions of the land which had been relied upon for 
the support of the freedmen. Within a few weeks from the date 
of that order, no less than §800,000 worth of property in Xew 



144 TffJS THIRTY-NINTH CONGRES 

ans was transferred, ami about one third of the whole prop- 
erty in North Carolina in possession of the bureau was given upj 
and the officer having charge of the land department reports that 
before the end of the year, in all probability, there will be under 
the charge of the commissioner little, if any. of the lands origi- 
nally designed for the support of these freed men. 

"It is obvious, it* these land.- are to be taken, that other lands 
must be provided, or the freednien will become a dead weight 
upon the Treasury, and the bill under consideration assigns other 
lands, in the place of those thus taken, from the unoccupied pub- 
lic lands of the I Fnited States." 

On the following day, Mr. Dawson, of Pennsylvania, obtained 
the floor in opposition to the bill. His speech was not devoted 
to a discussion of the hill in question, hut was occupied entirely 
with general political and social topics. The following extract 
indicates the t> nor of the speech : 

•• Negro equality doe-, not exist in nature. The African i- 
without a history. lie ha- never shown himself capable of self- 
government by the creation of a single independent State posf 
ing the attributes which challenge the respect of others. The 
past is silent of any negro people who possessed military and 
civil organization, who cultivated the arts at home, or condu 
a regular commerce with their neighbors. No African general 
has marched south of the desert, from the waters of the Nile to 
the Niger and Senegal, to unite by conquest the scattered terri- 
tories of barbarous tribes into one great ami homogeneous king- 
dom. Xo Moses, Solon, Lycurgus, or Alfred has left them a code 
of wise and salutary laws. They have had no builder of cities; 
they have no representatives in the art-, in science, or in litera- 
ture; they have been without even a monument, an alphabet, or 
a hieroglyphic." 

On the other hand, Mr. Garfield, of Ohio, among the friends 
of the measure, delivered a speech "on the Freedmen's Bureau 
Bill," in which the topic discussed was " Restoration of the Rebel 
States." In the course of his remarks Mr. Garfield said: 

■• L ! the stars of heaven illustrate our constellation of States. 
When God launch, d the planets upon their celestial pathway, he 
bound them all by the resistless power of attraction to the cen- 
tral sun, around which they revolved in their appointed orbits. 
Each may be swept by storms, may be riven by lightnings, may 



THE FREEDMEN. I4S 

be rocked by earthquakes, may be devastated by all the : r 
trial forces and overwhelmed in ruin, but far away in the ever- 
lasting depths, the sovereign sun holds the turbulent planet in its 

[dace. This earth may be' overwhelmed until the high are 

covered by the sea; it may tremble with earthquakes miles below 
the soil, but it must still revolve in its appointed orbit. So Ala- 
bama may overwhelm all her municipal institutions in ruin, but 
she can not annul the omnipotent decrees of the sovereign people 
of the Union. She must be held forever in her orbit of obedience 
and duty.*" 

After having quoted Gibbon's narrative of the destruction of 
the collossal statue of Serapis by Theophilus, Mr. Garfield said: 
"So slavery sat in our national Capitol. Its huge bulk died 
the temple of our liberty, touching it from side to side. Mr. 
Lincoln, on the 1st of January, 18(33, struck it on the cheek, and 
the faithless and unbelieving among us expected to see the fabric 
of our institutions dissolve into chaos because their idol had fallen. 
He struck it again; Congress and the States repeated the blow, 
and its unsightly carcass lies rotting in our streets. The sun 
shines in the heavens brighter than before. Let us remove the 
carcass and leave not a vestige of the monster. We shall never 
have done that until we have dared to come up to the spirit of 
the Pilgrim covenant of 1620, and declare that all men shall be 
consulted in regard to the disposition of their lives, liberty , and 
property. The Pilgrim fathers proceeded on the doctrine that 
everv man was supposed to know best what he wanted, and had 
the right to a voice in the disposition of himself." 

Mr. Taylor, of Xew York, opposed the bill principally on the 
ground of the expense involved in its execution. After having 
presented many columns of figures, Mr. Taylor arrived at this 
conclusion: "The cost or proximate cost of the bureau for one 
year, confining it- operation to the hitherto slave States, will be 
$25,251,600. That it is intended to put the bureau in fall ope- 
ration in every county and parish of the hitherto slave States, 
including Delaware. Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, 1 have 
not the least doubt, nor have I any doubt but that it is intended 
to extend it into parts of some of the border States." 

Mr. Donnelly moved to amend the bill by inserting the pro- 
vision that "the commissioner may provide a common-school 
education for all refugees and freed men who shall apply therefor." 
10 



/ . Til E Til 1 1; T ) -. \ 7. \ 77/ COXG RESS. 

He advocated education as an efficient means of restoration :'■ 
the South. He presented ample tables of statistics, and summed 
1 1 1 > the results in their bearing upon bis argument as follows: 

"The whole United States, with a population of 27,000,000, 
contains 834,106 illiterate persons, and of these 545,177 are found 
in the Southern State- with a population of 12,000,000; In other 
words, the entire populous North contains bul 28$ while the 

irsely-settled South contains 545,177." 

As an argument for the passage of the bill, he answered the 
question, " What has the South done for the black man since the 
close of the rebellion ? " 

•• In South Carolina it is provided that all male negroes be- 
tween two and twenty, and all females between two and eighteen, 
shall lie hound out to some 'master. 5 The adult negro is com- 
pelled to enter into contract with a master, and the district judg . 
not the laborer, i< to H\ the value of the labor. If he thinks 
the compensation too small ami will not work, he is a vagrant, 
and can be hired out for a term of service at a rate again to he 
fixed by the judge. If a hired negro leave- hi- employer he for- 
his wages tor the whole year. 

••The black code of Mississippi provide- that no neg -hall 
own or hire land- in the State; that he shall not sue nor testify 
in court against a white man; that he must he employed by 
master before the second Monday in January, or he will he hound 
out— in other words, -old into slavery; that it' he runs away the 
master may recover him. and deduct the expenses out of his 
wages; ami that if another man employs him he will he liable to 
an action for damages. It i- true, the President has directed 
General Thomas to disregard this code; hut the moment the 
military force i- withdrawn from the Stale thai order will he of' 
no effect. 

•' The black cod ■ of Alabama provides that it' a negro who has 

ntracted to labor fails to do so, he -hall he punished with dam- 
ages; and if he runs away he shall be punished as a vagrant, 
which probably mean- that he shall be -old to the highest bidder 
for a term of years; and tint any person who entices him to leave 
hi- master, :i- by the offer of better wages, -hall he guilty of a" 
misdemeanor, and may be sent to jail for -i.\ months; and further, 
that these regulations include all persons »ro blood to the 

third -ion, though one parent in each generation shall be 



THE FREEDMEN. 1,^7 

pure white; that is, down to the man who has but one eighth 
negro blood in his veins. 

After quoting the black codes of other States, the speaker thus 
epitomized their substance: " All this means simply the reestab- 
lishment of slavery. 

•' 1. lie shall work at a rate of wages to be fixed by a county 
judge or a Legislature made up of white masters, or by combina- 
tions of white masters, and not in any case by himself. 

" 2. He shall not leave that master to enter service with an- 
other. If he does he is pursued as a fugitive, charged with the 
expenses of his recapture, and made to labor for an additional 
period, while the white man who induced him to leave is sent to 
jail. 

"3. His children are taken from him and sold into virtual 
slavery. 

" 4. If he refuses to work, he is sold to the highest bidder for 
a term of months or years, and becomes, in fact, a slave. 

"5. He can not better his condition; there is no future for 
him ; he shall not own property ; he shall not superintend the 
education of his children; neither will the State educate them. 

" i). If he is wronged, he has no remedy; for the courts are 
closed against him." 

Mr. Kerr, of Indiana, addressed the House on the subject of 
reconstruction, maintaining, by extended arguments and quota- 
tions from learned authorities, that the rebel States were still in 
the Union. He concluded his speech by opposing the bill under 
consideration on the ground of its expense: "It involves the 
creation of a small army of agents and commissioners, whose 
jurisdiction and control shall pervade the whole country, shall 
extend into every State, into every congressional district, into 
every county, into every township and city of this broad Union ; 
provided, only, that they can find some freedmen or refugees upon 
whom to exercise their jurisdiction. I submit that, before a 
measure of this kind should be adopted, we should reflect most 
carefully upon what we are doing. We should remember that 
this country is now almost crushed into the very earth with its 
accumulated burden of public debt, of Slate debts, of county 
debts, of city debts, of township debts, of individual debts. We 
should bear in mind that we may impose upon the people of this 
country, by this kind of latitudinarian and most dangerous legis- 



THE THIRTY-NINTH COJ\ 

lation, a burden that is too heavy to be borne, and : which 

the day may come when the people, as one man, will fi < ! them- 
selves called upon to prol I in such a manner a- forever to over- 
throw that kind of legislation, and condemn to meri proach 
those who favor 

On a subsequent day of the discussion, Mr. Marsh; ' llli- 

nois, spoke against the lull. II*' put mucl - an objec- 

tion to whidi nearly all the opponents of the hill had referred, 

raely, that Congress had no warrant in the Constitution for 

--in- such a. measure. He -aid: " [nst( id called 

a hill for thf protection of freedmen and refug to be 

called a bill for the purpose of destroyii ustituti< i ofl 

United States, and subjecting the pe< pie thereof to mi power 

and domination. That would be a much more appropri: 

Mr. Marshal] was opposed to bestowing any thing in charity. 
"I deny." said he, "that this Federal Government has any 
authority to become the common almoner of the charities of tl 
people. I deny that there is any authority in the Federal Con- 
stitution to authorize us to pul our hands into their p< md 
take therefrom a part of their hard earnings in order to dis- 
tribute them as charity. 1 deny that the Federal Government 
was established for any such purpose, or that there is any au- 
thority or warrant in the Constitution for the measures which 
are proposed in this most extraordinary bill." 

He viewed with horror the slavery which the head of the War 
Department could impose upon the people by virtue of the pro- 
visions «'t' this bill. "He is to send his military satraps, 1 
Mi-. Marshall, "into every county and district of these States: 
and they may enslave and put down the entire white people oft 
eon i it n by virtue of this law." He -aw in the hill powei " to rob 
the people by unjust taxation; to take the hard earnings from the 
white people of the West, who. unless wiser counsels prevail, will 
themselves soon be reduced to worse than Egyptian bondage. I 
demand to he informed here upon this floor by what power you 
pin your hand- into their pockets and drag from them their 
money to carry out the purposes of this measu 

Mr. Hubbard, of Connecticut, made a shoi ch in reply to 

the speaker last quoted. lie -aid: " The gentleman from Illinois, 
some twenty times in the course of hi- eloquent speech this morn- 
ing, called upon some one to bell him where Congress gets the 



! E FUKEDMEX. 1^9 

power to enact such a law as this. In the first place, 1 commend 
to him to read the second section of the article of the immortal 
amendment of'the Constitution, giving to Congress power to pass 
all appropriate laws and make all appropriate legislation for the 
purpose of carrying out its provisions. I commend to his careful 
study the spirit of the second section of that immortal amendment, 
and I think, if he will study it with a willingness to lie convinced, 
lie will see that it has given to this Congress t'idl power in the 
premises. Moreover, sir, I read in the Constitution that Congress 
has been at all times charged with the duty of providing for the 
public welfare; and if Congress shall deem that the public wel- 
fare requires this enactment, it is the sworn duty of every mem- 
ber to give the bill his support. 

" Sir, there is an old maxim of law in which I have very con- 
siderable faith, that regard must be had to the public welfare; 
and this maxim is said to be the highest law. It is the law of 
the Constitution, and in the light of that Constitution as amended 
I find ample power for the enactment of this law. It is the duty 
of Congress to exercise its power in such a time as this, in a time 
of public peril ; and I hope that nobody on this side of the House 
will be so craven as to want courage to come up to the question 
and give his vote for the bill. It is necessary to provide for the 
public welfare." 

Mr. Moulton, of Illinois, spoke in favor of the bill. Of the 
oft-repeated objection that " this lull is in violation of the Con- 
stitution of the United States," he .-aid: " This is the very argu- 
ment that we have heard from the other side of this chamber for 
the last five years with reference to every single measure that ha 
been proposed to this House for the prosecution of the war for 
the Union. No measure has been passed for the benefit oi' the 
country, for the prosecution of this war, for the defense of your 
rights and mine, but ha- been assailed by gentlemen on the oppo- 
site side of this House with the argument that the whole thing- 
was unconstitutional." 

He then proceeded to set forth at length the authority of 
Congress to pass such a bill. 

Very strenuous opposition to the passage of the bill was made 
by most of the members from Kentucky. Mr. Hitter, of that 
State, uttered his earnest protest at considerable length against 
the measure. He presented his views of the •'-rand purposes 



THE THIRTY-NINTH. CONGRESS. 

and designs <•!' those who introduced this bill." In his opinion 

intended "to commence a colony in each one <>!' the five 

ibove named, which i- ultimately f<> drive out the entire 

whit< population <>f tho - tee and till their places with the 

And whether this i- the design or not, it i- certain, 

in my judgment, i" have this effect. Ajid they could not have 

devised a more effectual scheme for that purpo 

•■ Sir, it i- not to be expected that the two races will live con- 
tentedly where there are large numbers of the colored people 
living near to neighborhoods settled with whin persons. E 
rience has proved to many of us that wherever large numbers 
colored people live, that the white people living within live oi 
mile- of the place become sufferers to a very large extent. V ■. 
sir, if this should be the case (as I have no doubt it will, in the 
State- in which you pro])'-'' to establish these people, the white- 
ami blacks will disagree to such an extent that, when people find 
that the colored people are permanently established, they will he 
compelled, iii self defense, to seek a home somewhere else. No 
doubt, Mr. Speaker, but that those who prepared this hill saw 
that the difficulties and disagreements to which 1 have jus! 
laded would arise, and hence they require that military jurisdii 
and protection shall be extended, so as to give safety in their 
movements; and if the white inhabitants become dissatisfied 
commissioner i- prepared with authority by this bill to buy 
them out and put the uegroes upon the land." 

lie thus presented his calculation of the cosl of carrying out 
the hill a- an argument against it: " In 1 822 the ordinary ex- 
penses of the Government were $9,827,643, and in 1823 tie 
pen-,- amounted to the sum of - 1,154. Now, sir, who could 
have thought at that day that in the comparatively short time of 
forty-three years it would require the sum of even si-j.dMii.it! 

ip a machinery alone for the benefit of three or four million 

oes, and more especially, sir, when it i> understood that in 

1820 we had a population, including white and colored, of 9,633,- 

545. Mr. Speaker, how long will it he at this rati — when we 

take into consideration the fact that our Government proper, be- 

- this little bureau machine, i- now costing us hundreds 
millions of dollars — how long, sir, will it h have t> 

call iu the services of Mi-. Kennedy, of census notoriet 
te the amount of the debt we owe 



THE FEEEDMEN. 151 

Mr. Rousseau, of Kentucky, in defining his position, said: "I 
am not a Republican; i wasa Whig and a Union man, ami belong 
to the Union party, and I am sorry to say that the Union party 
and the Republican party arc not always convertible terms." 

Mr. Rousseau urged against the Freedmen's Bureau Bill the 
Wrongs and oppressions which its abuses heaped upon the people 
of the South. In the course of his speech Mr. Rousseau quoted 
what he had said on one occasion to an official of* the Freedmen's 
Bureau: "I said to him, f if you intend to arrest white people on 
the ex parte statements of negroes, and hold them to suit your 
convenience for trial, and fine and imprison them, then i say that 
I oppose you; and if you should so arrest and punish me, I 
would kill you when you set me at liberty; and I think that you 
would do the same to a man who would treat you in that way, 
if you are the man I think you are, and the man you ought to 
be to till your position here.'" 

This extract has considerable importance as being the occasion 
of an unfortunate personal difficulty between Mr. Rousseau and 
Mr. Grinnell, of Iowa, narrated in a subsequent chapter. The 
latter portion of Mr. Rousseau's speech was devoted to the subject 
of reconstruction. He was followed by Mr. Shankl.in, of Ken- 
tucky, lie characterized the Freedmen's Bureau as a "gigantic 
monster." He declared that " the effect of this measure upon the 
negro population will be to paralyze their energy, destroy their 
industry, and make them paupers and vagabonds." He saw 
''revolution and ruin" in prospect. "I affirm," said he, "that 
in legislating for those States, or without allowing them any 
representation in these halls, you are violating one of the cardi- 
nal principles of republican government ; you are tearing down 
the main pillar upon which our whole fabric of Government 
rests; you are sowing broadcast the seeds of revolution and ruin. 
Mr. Speaker, if the object of gentlemen here is to restore har- 
mony and peace and prosperity throughout the Union, why do 
they adopt measures thus insulting, tyrannical, and oppressive in 
their character? Is this the way to restore harmony and peace 
and prosperity'.' How can you expect to gain the respect and 
affection of those people by heaping upon them insult and injus- 
tice? If they have the spirit of their ancestors, you may crush 
them, you may slay them, but you can never cause them to love 



i: : THE THIRTY-NINTH t 

you or respect you; and they ought not while you force upon 
the n n ires hich are only intended to degrade them." 

Mr. Trimble, of Kentucky, viewed the question in a similar 
• that in which it was regarded by his colleagui . " 1 
said he, "this bill is in open and plain violation of that 
m of the Constitution. There exists no power in this 
ment to deprive a citizen of the United States of his prop- 
i take away the hard earnings of his own industry and 
iw them upon this class of citizens. The only way you ran 
take property in South Carolina, Georgia, or any other Man. i- 

that property under the Constitution of the United Si 
and the law 3 p - I in pursuance ther 

I his speech with the following appeal: "I appeal to 
my friends who love this Union, who love it for all the memories 
of the past, who love it because it has protected them and theirs; 
1 appeal to them to pan-'' and reflect before they press this m -- 
ure upon these people; for 1 tell you that, in my judgment, the 
effe :ts of the provisions of this bill to us as a nation will not be 
told in our lifetimes. If legislation of this character i- to be 
pressed here, I awfully fear hope will sink within us. Our love 
for this Union and desire for it- restoration will be greatly \\ 
ened and estranged." 

Mr. McKee alone, of all the Representatives from Kentucky, 
was favorable to the bill. The opponents of the measure had 
spoken of it as a " monstrous usurpation." " We have heard that 
talk," said Mr. McKee, "for more than four years here. What 
hill 1,1- been introduced into and passed by Congress since this 
war began that this same party has not been accustomed to de- 
nounce as a monstrous usurpation of power".' When the President 
of the i issued his call for troops they cried out, ' \ 

monstrous usurpation of power.' When he sent a requisition to 
the Governor of my own State, what was the response? ' Not a 
man, not a dollar, to prosecute this wicked war against our 
Southern brethren.' And the Union party, God help them: in 
Kentucky, indorsed the sentiment al that day. I did not belong 
to that part of the Union party; 1 never belonged to that 'neu- 
trality concern.' 1 never put in my oar to help propel that ship 
which was in favor of thundering forth with its cannon against 
the North and the South alike. 1 never belonged to that party 
which said, ' We will stand as a wall of fire against either side.' 



THE FREEDMEN. loS 

I thank God I never stood niton but one side, and that was the 
side of my country, against treason, against oppression, against 
wrong in all its forms." 

In arguing the necessity for some such legislation as that pro- 
vided in this bill, Mr. McKee asked, " Has any Southern 3ta1 
riven the freedmen 'their full rights and full protection?' 1- 
there a solitary State of those that have been in rebellion, (and I 
include my own State with the rest, because, although she has 
never been, by proclamation, declared a State in rebellion, 1 think 
she has been one of the most rebellious of the whole crew,) is 
there a single one of these States that ha- passed laws to give 
the freedmen full protection? In vain we wait an affirmative 
response. Until these States have done so, says this high author- 
ity, the Freedmen's Bureau is a necessity. This is to my mind a 
sufficient answer to the arguments of gentlemen on the other side. 
In none of those States has the black man a law to protect him 
in his rights, either of person or property. He can sue in a court 
of justice in my State, but he can command no testimony in his 
prosecution or defense unless the witness be a white man. We 
have one code for the white man, another for the black. Is this 
justice? Where is your court of justice in any Southern State 
where the black man can secure protection ? Again there is no 
response." 

Mr. Grinnell, of Iowa, a member of the committee that had 
reported this bill, took the floor in its favor. Much having been 
said by Representatives of Kentucky in reference to that State, 
Mr. Grinnell remarked: "I can not forget, when I hear these 
extravagant claims set up here, that her Governor, in the first 
year of the rebellion, refused to honor the call for troops made 
by the President of the United Slates in our darkest hour; nor 
can I forget that when her soldiers wished to organize regiments 
they were obliged to cross the Ohio River into the State of In- 
diana, that thev might organize them free from the interference 
of the power of Kentucky neutrality. That is a fact in history, 
and I can not overlook it, when gentlemen here arraign the 
President of the United State- because he has seen lit to suspend 
the privilege of the writ of habeas corjjus in the State of 
Kentucky." 

"Let us see," said Mr. Grinnell, in a subsequent part of his 
speech, "what are the laws of Kentucky which are so just and 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRE& 

honorable and equitable. The white man in Kentucky can testify 
in the courts; the black man can testify against himself. The 
white man can vote; the black man can not. The white man, 
ii' he commits an offense, i- tried by a jury of hi- peers; the 
black man i- tried by his enlightened, unprejudiced superiors. 
The rape of a negro woman by a white man i- no offense; the 
rape of a while woman by a negro man i- punishable by death, 
ami the Governor of the Suite can not commute. 

•' A white man may come into Kentucky when he pi the 

free negro who comes there is a felon, though a di-ehar. 
dier, and wounded in our battle-. A while man in Kentucky 
may keep a gun ; if a black man buy- a gun he forfeits it. and 
pays a fine of five dollar- it* presuming to keep in his possession 
a musket which he has carried through the war. Arson of public 
buildings, if committed by a white man, is punished by impris 
meiit in the penitentiary for a term of from seven to twenty-one 
year-: if committed by a black man, the punishment is death. 
Arson of a warehouse, etc., when committed by a white man. is 
punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary from one to six 
year-; when committed by a negro, the penalty is death. 

•• If a white man is guilty of insurrection or rebellion, 1. 
punished by being called 'chivalrous.' I instance the rebel 
ral Forest, who murdered white men at Fort Pillow, and is 
reputed the most popular man South. It' a negro rebels, or 
spirt - bel, he is punished with death. These are speeim 

Referring to the benefits conferred by the Freedmen's Bureau 

■ 

upon Kentucky, Mr. Grinnell remarked: "A- it i- asserted that 
this Fr a's Bureau is a partial, unnecessary, speculating 

affair, J wish to call attention to the fact that in the Stato 
Kentucky, during the last five months, more white refugees than 
freednieii. in the proportion of seven and one-fourth to .me. have 
received rations at the hand- of the Government; that this 
bureau has kept in schools in the State of Kentucky fourteen 
thou ^il : >' '1. people. 

In further illustration of the work accomplished by this in- 
strumentality, he -aid: "This bureau is in charge of 800,000 
acres of land and 1,500 piece- of town property. It has issued 
more than 600,000 rations to refugees, and 3,500,000 t>> IV 
men. 1 ; treated 2,500 refugees in hospitals, and decently 
buried 227 of them. It has treated 15,000 freednien, and mad" 



THE FREEDMEN. 155 

the graves for 6,000 of the number. Transportation has been 
furnished to 1,700 refugees and 1,900 freedmen. In the schools 
there are 80,000 people that have been instructed by this bureau. 
And now it is proposed to leave all these children of misfortune 
to the tender mercies of a people of whom it is true by the 
Spanish maxim, 'Since I have wronged you I have hated you.' 
I never can. Our authority to take care of them is founded in 
the Constitution; else it is not worthy to be our great charter. 
It gives authority to feed Indian tribes, though our enemies, and 
a just interpretation can not restrain us in clothing and feeding 
unfortunate friends. In providing- schools, we can turn to the 
same authority which led to the gift of million- of acres of the 
public domain for the purpose of establishing agricultural colleges 
in this country." 

He referred to Russia for example of what should be done in 
such an emer«;encv: "We should be worse than barbarians to 
leave these people where they are, landless, poor, unprotected; 
and I commend to gentlemen who still. cling to the delusion that 
all is well, to take lessons of the Czar of the Russias, who, when 
he enfranchised his people, gave them lands and school-houses, 
and invited school -masters from all the world to come there and 
instruct them. Let us hush our national songs; rather gird on 
sack-cloth, if wanting in moral courage to reap the fruits of our 
war by being just and considerate to those who look up to us for 
temporary counsel and protection. Care and education are 
cheaper for the nation than neglect, and nothing is plainer in 
the counsels of heaven or the world's history." 

An allusion made by "Sir. Grinnell to the speech of Mr. Ros- 
seau, provoked the personal assault to be described hereafter. 

Mr. Raymond having the floor for a personal explanation, took 
occasion to make the following remarks in reference to the bill: 
" L have no apprehensions as to the practical working- of this 
law. So far as I have been able to collect information from all 
quarters — and I have taken some pains to do so — I find that this 
law, like most other laws on our statute books, works well where 
it is well administered. The practical operations of this bureau 
will depend upon the character of the agents into whose hands its 
management is intrusted. I certainly have no apprehension in 
this respect. I do not for one moment Tear thai the agents who 
will he appointed to carry this law into execution will not use the 



156 THE THIRTY-MINTS. CONGRESS. 

powers conferred upon them for the furtherance of the great obj< 
which we all have in view — the reconciliation, the pr< >n, the 

irity of all cla — of those who are now our fellow-citizens in 
the Southern Sen.-." 

Mr. Phelps, of Maryland, made a speech indorsing th< prin- 
ciple of tin- bill, 1 * : 1 1 objecting to some of it- details. His objec- 
tions were removed by the presentation and acceptance of I 
following amendment by Mr. Shellab , of Ohio: "No person 

shall !)'• deemed destitute, suffering, or dependent upon the < !ov- 
ernment for support, within the meaning "t* this act, who, be 
able n< f i ii« 1 employment, could, by proper industry ami exertion, 
avoid such destitution, suffering ami dependi n< 

Mi'. Chanler made a long speech in opposition to the l>ill. II'' 

c particular attention to the speech of Mr. Donnelly, "f Min- 
nesota, who had advocated education a- a a for the 
South. "The malignant party spirit ami sectional hate," said 
Mr. Chanler, "that runs through this whole - nt, needs 
no illustration." After presenting voluminous extracts from 
speeches, letters, and public documents, Mr. Chanler summed up 
his objections to the hill in the following word-: "Our people 
are not willing to live under military rule. 

"This bureau is under military ride. It proposes to per- 
petuate and strengthen itself by the present hill. 

•• h Pounds an ' imperium in ivvperio' t<> protect black labor 
against while labor. 

•' It excludes the foreign immigrant from the land- given to the 
native-born negro. 

•• It subjects the white native-born citizen to the ignominy of 
surrendering his patrimony, his self-respect, ami his right to labor 
into the hand.- oi* negroes, idle, ignorant, and mi-led by fanatic, 
selfish speculators." 

Mi-. Stevens desired to amend the hill by striking out the lim- 
itation to three years given the possessory title- conferred by Gen- 

1 Sherman, ami rendering them perpetual. This amendment 
the House were unwilling to accept. Mr. Stevens further pro- 
posed t<> strike out the proviso "unless a- punishment I'm crii 
whereof the party -hall have been duly convicted," giving a- a 
i for this amendment, " I know thai men are convicted of 
--mil and battery, and sentenced to slavery down there. 1 ha 



THE FREEDMEN. 157 

authentic evidence of thai fad in several letter-, and, therefore, I 
propose to strike out those words." 

This amendment was adopted. Another important amendment 
proposed by the committee was the Limitation of the operation of 
the hill to States in which the writ of habeas corpus was sus- 
pended on the 1st of February, 1866. Mr. Eliot closed the de- 
hate by answering some objections to the hill, and presenting some 
official documents proving the beneficent results of the bureau, 
especially in the State of Kentucky. 

On the 6th of February the question was taken, and the hill 
passed by the following vote: 

Yeas — Messrs. Alloy. Allison, Ames, Anderson, Delos R. Ashley, James 
M. Ashley, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Barker, Baxter, Beaman, Benjamin, 
Bidwell, Bingham, Blaine, Blow, Boutwell, Brandegee, Bromwell, Broomall, 
Bundy, Reader W. Clarke. Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Conkling, Cook, Cullom, 
Darling, Davis, Dawes, Defrees, Delano, Deming, Dixon, Donnelly, Driggs, 
Dumont, Eckley, Eggleston, Eliot, Farnsworth, Farquhar, Ferry, Garfield, 
Grinnell, G-riswold, Hale. Abner C. Harding. Hart, Hayes, Henderson, 
Higby, Hill, Holmes, Hooper, Hotchkiss, Asahel W. Hubbard, Chester D. 
Hubbard, Demas Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, James R. Hubbell, James 
Humphrey, Ingersoll, Jenckes, Julian. Kasson, Kelley, Kelso, Ketcham, 
Kuykendall, Laflin, Latham, George V. Lawrence. William Lawrence, Loan, 
Longyear, Lynch, Marston, Marvin, McClurg, Mclndoe, McKee, McRuer, 
Mercur, Miller, Moorhead, Morrill, Morris, Moulton, Myers, Newell, O'Neill, 
Orth. Paine, Patterson, Perham, Phelps, Pike. Plants. Pomeroy, Price, Wil- 
liam H. Randall, Raymond, Alexander H. Rice. John 11. Rice, Rollins, 
Sawyer, Schenck, Scofield, Shellabarger, Smith. Spalding, Starr, Stevens, 
Stilwell, Thayer, Francis Thomas, John L. Thomas, Trowbridge, Upson, 
Van Aernam, Burt Van Horn, Robert T. Van Horn, Ward, Warner, 
Elihu B, Washburne, William B Washburn, Welker, Wentworth, Whaley, 
Williams, James F. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, Windom, and Wood- 
bridge. — 136. 

\ ws— Messrs. Boyer, Brooks, Chanler, Dawson, Eldridge, Finck, Closs- 
brenner, Grider, Aaron Harding, Harris, Hogan, Edwin N. Hubbell, .lames 
M Humphrey, Kerr, Le Blond, Marshall, McCullough, Niblack, Nicholson, 
Noell, Samuel .1. Randall, Bitter, Rogers, Ross, Rosseau, Shanklin, Sit- 
greaves, Strouse, Taber, Taylor, Thornton, Trimble, and Wright— 33. 

Not Voting — Messrs. Ancona, Bergen. Buckland, Culver, Denison, Cool- 
year, Hulburd, Johnson, Jones, Radford. Sloan, Voorhees, and Wintield — 13. 



THE THIRTY-NINTH COJfGRL 



CHAPTER YIII. 

THE SENATE A N I I THE VETO MESSAGE. 

Mr. Trumbull on the amendments of the House — Mr. <irTHRrE exhibits 
feeling — Mr. Sherman's deliberate c< in — Mr. B 

sovereign remedy — Mr Trumbull on patent medicines — Mr. 
Dougall a white max — Mi;. Reverd? Johnson on the power t<> i 

THE BILL— I RENCE OF THE HOUSE — TlIK VeTO M -Mr L 

Kansas His efforts for delay — Mr. Garrett Davis -Mb uu-m- 
bcll's reply to the President — The question taken — Yeas and sai 
Failure of pass \<.k. 

ON the 7th of February the amendments of the -he 

Freedmen's Bureau Bill were presented to th< & ate, and 
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. 
( )m the following day Mr. Trumbull, chairman of this commit- 
reported certain amendments to the amendments made b) I 
House of Representatives. Mr. Trumbull said: "The I! - 
Representatives have adopted a substitute for the whole bill, but 
it is the Senate bill verbatirh, with a few exceptions, which I will 
endeavor to point out. The title of the bill has been ged, to 

begin with. It was called as it passed the Senate ' A bill r <> en- 
large the powers of the Freedmen's Bureau.' The H has 
amended the title so as to make it read, ' A hill to amend an 
entitled "An ad to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen 
and Refugees," and for other purposes.' Of cours ere i- no 
importance in that. 

"The firsi amendment which the Bouse ha- made, and 
most important one, will be found to commence in the eighth lino 
,,i' the first section. The House has inserted words limiting the 
operation <>f 1 1 > « - Freedmen's Bureau to those sections of country 
within which the writ of habeas oorpw was suspended on the l-t 
•lav of February, L866. A- the bill passed the Senate, it will be 



THE FBEEDM EX. 159 

remembered that it extended to refugees and freedmen in all parts 
of the United States, and the President was authorized to divide 
the section of country containing such refugees and freedmen into 
districts. The House amend that so as to authorize the President 
to divide the section of country within which the privilege of the 
writ of habeas corpus was suspended on the 1st day of February, 
1866, containing such refugees and freedmen, into districts. The 
writ of habeas corpus on the 1st day of February last was sus- 
pended in the late rebellious States, including Kentucky, and in 
none other. The writ of habeas co?pus was restored by the Presi- 
dent's proclamation in Maryland, in Delaware, and in Missouri, 
all of which have been slaveholding States. 

" As the bill passed the Senate, it will be observed it only ex- 
tended to refugees and freedmen in the United States, wherever 
they might be, and the President was authorized to divide the 
region of country containing such refugees and freedmen, and it 
had no operation except in States where there were refugees and 
freedmen. The House has limited it so that it will not have 
operation in Maryland, or Delaware, or Missouri, or any of the 
Northern States." 

After Mr. Trumbull had stated the other and less important 
amendments made by the House, the Senate proceeded to consider 
the amendments proposed by the Judiciary Committee, the first 
of which was to strike out the words '' within which the privileg< - 
of the writ of habeas corpus was suspended on the 1st day of Feb- 
ruary, 1866." 

Mr. Trumbull said: "I wish to say upon that point that the 
bill as it passed the Senate can have no operation except in regions 
of country where there are refugees and freedmen. It is confined 
to those districts of country, and it could not have operation in 
most of the loyal States. But it is desirable, as I am informed, 
and it was so stated by one of the Senators from Maryland, that 
the operations of this bill should be extended to Maryland. It 
may be necessary that it should be extended to Missouri, and 
possibly to Delaware. I trust not; but the authority to extend 
it there ought to exist, if there should be occasion for it. The 
only objection 1 have to limiting the operation of the bill to the 
late slaveholding States is, that I think it bad legislation, when 
Ave are endeavoring to break down discrimination and distinction, 
to pass a law which is to operate in one State of the Union and 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

in another. T would rather that the law should be general, 
although I am fully aware that there is nothing for the law to 
operate upon in mos1 of the States of the Union. I do not feel 
quite willing to vote upon Kentucky, for instance, a law that I 
am not willing to have applicable to the State of Hlinois, if such 
a state of facts exists as that the law can operate in Illinois. I 
prefer, therefore, to have the bill in the shape in which it passed 
the Senate, and such was the opinion of the Committee on the 
Judiciary." 

Mr. Guthrie, of Kentucky, spoke with much feeling upon the 
bearings of the bureau upon his State: "You will have to ac- 
knowledge these State- or you will have to do worse. The 
j, ; ,-- f this system of bills is a dissolution of the Union, and 

you can noi help it. It will be impossible for you to cany on 
this Government under any such system. When the Union is no! 
to he restored, when there i< nothing of that feeling to make the 
people endure, do you suppose they will endure forever - .' Do you 
suppose this hill will attach the people in these eleva - - more 
thoroughly to the Union than they felt when they reorganized 
their State governments, passed law- manumitting their slav< -. 
their Legislatures, and doing all that was indicated as 
necessary to he done? Do you suppose that there will ever come 
a lime, under this hill, that they will desire to become memb 
of this Union once more-.' I see in this hill exactly how Ken- 
tucky is tolerated here; Cora- to having part in this legislation, 
when she i- charged openly with being ruled at home by rebels, 
our counsels can !»• of no good here; hut <\\\\ we are not to be 
driven from the Union, and from raising our voice in favor of it, 
and raising it in favor of conciliation and confidence from one 

■ ion t<» the other. Gentlemen do not get these doctrines of 
hatred -Mid vengeance from the Gospel. These are not the doc- 
trines I by the Savior of the world. While you cry for 
jug ih,' African, you are imt slow to commit wrong and 

din r i the white race. 

"Sir, there were rebels in all the States and will he again 
if you '■■-'■ • people to desperation. The Senator from 

Ma ts, if 1 understood his language aright, threatened us 

with irs if we dill not yield to hi- suggestions, and the 

rora Indiana intimated very strongly the game thing. 
You I trength enough to carry these measures, if it is the 



THE FREEDMEN. 161 

sentiment of the nation; but we are not a people to be alarmed 
by words or threats." 

Mr. Sherman had been, as he said, "during this whole debate, 
rather a spectator than a participant." Not desiring to commit 
himself too hastily, he had reserved his opinion that h might 
ict and vote understandingly, without feeling, or prejudice, or 
passion. It was after full reflection that he voted for the bill so 
harshly characterized by the Senator from Kentucky, who had 
evinced a degree of feeling entirely uncalled for. Mr. Sherman 
said further: "I look upon the Freedman's Bureau Bill as sim- 
ply a temporary protection to the freedmen in the Southern States. 
We are bound by every consideration of honor, by every obliga- 
tion that can rest on any people, to protect the freedmen from 
the rebels of the Southern States; ay, sir, and to protect them 
from the loyal men of the Southern States. We know that, on 
account of the prejudices instilled by the system of slavery per- 
vading all parts of the Southern States, the Southern people will 
not do justice to the freedmen of those States. We know that in 
the course of the war the freedmen have been emancipated ; that 
they have aided us in this conflict; and, therefore, we arc bound, 
by every consideration of honor, faith, and of public morals, to 
protect and maintain all the essential incidents of freedom to them. 
I have no doubt that in doing this we shall encounter the preju- 
dices not only of rebels, but of loyal men ; but still the obligation 
and guarantee is none the less binding on us. We must maintain 
their freedom, and with it all the incidents and all the rights of 
freedom." 

Mr. Henderson, of Missouri, like the Senator from Ohio, had 
hitherto taken no part in the discussion. He was opposed to the 
limitations placed upon the bill by the House of Representatives. 
" I would not have voted for it if it had not been carried to my 
own State; and if this amendment of the House of Representa- 
tives is to be adopted, I will not vote for the bill. 1 want the 
bill to be made general. If it is to be made special, if it is to be 
applied to Kentucky only, I appreciate the feeling that drove my 
friend from Kentucky to make the most unfortunate remark that 
has been made upon the floor of the Senate since L861. 1 sin- 
cerely hope, for the good of the country, that the distinguished 
Senator may see fit to take back what he said a few moments ago. 
"Sir, we have had enough of disunion. I hope that no Senator 
11 



/>/.' THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRE& 

in the future will rise upon this floor and talk, under any circum- 
stances whatever, of another war of rebellion against the consti- 
tuted authorities of this country. My God! ore we again to pass 
through the scenes of blood through which we have passed for the 
last four years? Are we t<> have this war repeated? No Freed- 
meu's Bureau Bill, do bill for the protection of the rights of any 
b«»dv -hall ever drive me t<> dream of such a thing." 

Mr. Henderson thought a better protection for the negro than 
Freedinen's Bureau would be the ballot. He -aid: ■■ 1 live 
in a State that was a slaveholding State until last January a year 
ago. I have been a slaveholder all my life until the day when 
tin" ordinance of emancipation was passed in my State. 1 advo- 
cated it, and have advocated emancipation for the last four y< 
at least since this war commenced. Do you want to know how 
to protect the freedmen of the Southern State-:' This hill i- use- 
less for thai purpose. It i- not the intention of the honorable 
Senators on this floor from Northern State-, who favor this hill. 
to -end military men to plunder the good people of Kentucky. 
It is an attempt to enforce this moral and religious sentiment of 
tlic people of the Northern Stal -. Sir. these freedmen will lie 
protected. The decree of Almighty God has gone forth, as it 
went forth in favor of their freedom originally, that they -hall he 
endowed with all the rights that belong to other men. Will you 
protect them".' (live them the ballot, Mr. President, and then 

. are protected." 

In reference to the remarks by Mr. Henderson, Mr. Trumbull 
" The zeal of my friend from Missouri seems to have run 
| with him. Having come from being a slaveholder to the 
position of advocating universal negro suffrage as the sovereign 
remedy for every thing, he manifests a degree of zeal which I 
have only seen equaled, I confess, by some of the diooverers of 
patent medicines who have found a grand specific to cure all dis- 
YV!i\ . he says this bureau is of no account ; give the negro 
the hullot. and that will stop him from starving; that will teed 
him; that will educate him! Von have got on your hands to- 
day one hundred thousand feeble, indigent, infirm colored popu- 
lation th it would starve and die it' relief' were nol afforded; and 
tho Senator from Missouri tells you, 'This is all nonsense; give 
them the tight of suffrage, and that i- all they want." This to 
feed the huimrv and clothe the naked! He has voted for these 



THE FREEDMEN. 163 

bills; but if you will only just give the right of suffrage, you do 
not want to take care of any starving man, any orphan child, 
any destitute and feeble person that can not take care of himself! 
It is the most sovereign remedy that I have heard of since 1 
days of Townsend's Sarsaparilla." 

Referring to the feeling manifested by Mr. Guthrie, Mr. Trum- 
bull said: "God forbid that I should put a degradation on the 
people of Kentucky. I never thought of such a thing. 1 would 
sooner cut off my right hand than do such a thing. What is it 
that so excites and inflames the mind of the Senator from Ken- 
tucky that he talks about the degradation that is to be put upon 
her, the plunder of her people, the injustice that is to be done 
her inhabitants? Why, sir, a bill to help the people of Ken- 
tucky to take care of the destitute negroes, made free without 
any property whatever, without the means of support, left to 
starve and to die unless somebody cares for them; and we pro- 
pose in the Congress of the United States to help to do it. Is 
that a degradation? Is that an injustice? Is that the way to 
rob a people?' 1 

Mr. McDougall having subsequently obtained the floor, mad - 
the remark : "' I, being a white man, say for the white men and 
white women that they will take care of themselves. This bill 
was not made for white women or white men, or white men and 
women's children." 

This brought out the following statistical statement from Mr. 
Trumbull: "I have before me the official report, which .-hows 
the consolidated number of rations issued in the different districts 
and States during the month of June, July, August, September, 
and October, 1865. In June there were issued to refugees three 
hundred and thirteen thousand six hundred and twenty-seven ra- 
tions, and thirty six thousand one hundred and eighty-one to 
freedmen. In August, in Kentucky and Tennessee, there were 
issued to refugees eighty-seven thousand one hundred and eighty 
rations, and to freedmen eighty-seven thousand one hundred and 
ninety-five — almost an equality." 

Mr. Johnson, of Maryland remarked: "The object of the bill 
is a very correct one; these people should be taken care of; and 
as it is equally applicable to the whites and to the blacks, and 
the whites in many of the States requiring as much protection as 
the blacks, I would very willingly vote for the bill if I thought 



164 THE r " ' HTy-.Vf.VTH CONGRESS. 

we had the power t<> pass it; but <>n the question of power I 
have no disposition now <>r perhaps at any time in th< present 
if the bill to trouble the Senate." 

The l>ill soon after passed the Senate a.s amended in the II<>;i->\ 
and reamended in the Senate, by a vote of twenty-nine to seven. 

On the following day, the amendments of the Senate wen con- 
curred in by tlif Bouse without debate, and the Freedmen's Bu- 
reau Bill \\;i> ready to be submitted to the Executive. 

Ten day's after the anal passage of the bill, the President sent 
to the Senate a message, "with his objection thereto in writing." 

The Senate immediately suspended other business to hear the 
Veto Message, which was read by the Secretary, a.^ follows: 

S lh Ui - lies: 

I have examined with care the hill which originated in tin- Senate, and 
has been passed by the two houses of Congress, to amend an an entitled 
'An act t.i establish a Bureau for the relief of Freedmen ami Refuge 

and for other purposes. Earing, with much regret, i le to the conclusion 

that it would not lie consistent with the public welfare to give my approval 
to tin' measure, 1 return the hill to the Senate with in v objections to it- be- 
coming a law. 

•• I might call to mind, in advance of these objections, that there :.- no im- 
mediate necessity for the proposed measure. The act t<> establish a Rureau 
for the relief of Freedmen ami Refugees, which was approved in the month 
ui' March last, has net yet expired. It was thought Btringent and extensive 
enough for the purpose in \iew in time el' war. Before it ceases to have 
effect, further experience maj assist to guide us to a wise conclusion as to 
the policy to he adopted in time of peace. 

■•| share with Congress the strongest de-ire to secure to th Imen 

tin' full enjoyment of their freedom and property, ami their entire indepen- 
dence and equality in making contracts for their labor; hut the hill before 
me contains provisions which, in my opinion, are not warranted by the Con- 
stitution, and are not well suited to accomplish the end in view 

"The hill proposes to establish bj authority o\' « -■-. military juris- 

diction over jill parts of the United Slates containing refugees and freedmen. 
It would, by it- very nature, apply with most force to those parts i :' the 

United State- in which the fr Imen must abound; and it expressly extends 

the existing temporarj jurisdiction of the Freedmen's Bureau, with greatly 
enlarged powers, over those States 'in which the ordinary course of judicial 

pro.- ling, has he. mi interrupted by the rebellion.' The Bource from which 

this military jurisdiction i- t" emanate i- none other than the President of 
the United States, acting through the War Department and the commissioner 
ut the Freedmen's Bureau. The agents to carry out this military jurisdic- 
tion are t.i he selected either from the army or from civil life; the country 

is to he divided into districts and sub-districts; and the number of salaried 



THE FREE DM EN. 16d 

agents to ho employed may be equal to the number of counties or parishes 
in all the United States where freedmen and refugees arc to be found. 

"The subjects over which this military jurisdiction is to extend in every 
part of the United States include protection to 'all employes, agents, and 
officers of this bureau in the exercise of the duties imposed' upon them by 
the bill. In eleven States it is further to extend over all cases affecting 
freedmen and refugees discriminated against 'by local law, custom, or prej- 
udice.' In those eleven States the lull subjects any white person who may 
be charged with depriving a freedman of 'any civil rights or immunities 
belonging to white persons' to imprisonment or fine, or both, without, how- 
ever, defining the 'civil rights and immunities' which are thus to he secured 
to the freedmen by military law. This military jurisdiction also extends to 
all questions that may arise respecting contracts. The agent who is thus to 
exercise the office of a military judge may be a stranger, entirely ignorant 
of the laws of the place, and exposed to the errors of judgment to which all 
men are liable. The exercise of power, over which there is no legal super- 
vision, by so vast a number of agents as is contemplated by the bill, must, 
by the very nature of man, he attended by acts of caprice, injustice, and 
passion. 

"The trials, having their origin under this bill, are to take place without 
the intervention of a jury, and without any fixed rules of law or evidence. 
The rules on which offenses are to be 'heard and determined' by the nu- 
merous agents, are such rules and regulations as the President, through the 
War Department, shall prescribe. No previous presentment is required, 
nor any indictment charging the commission of a crime against the laws; 
but the trial must proceed on charges and specifications. The punishment 
will be, not what the law declares, but such as a court-martial may think 
proper; and from these arbitrary tribunals there lies no appeal, no writ of 
error to any of the courts in which the Constitution of the United States 
vests exclusively the judicial power of the country. 

"While the territory and the classes of actions and offenses that are made 
subject to this measure are so extensive, the hill itself, should it become ti 
law, will have no limitation in point of time, but will form a part of the 
permanent legislation of the country. 1 can not reconcile a system of mili- 
tary jurisdiction of this kind with the words of the Constitution, which de- 
clare that • no person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise 
infamous crime unless upon a presentment or indictment of ;i grand jury, 
except in cases arising in the land and naval forces, or in the militia when 
in actual service in time of war or public danger;' and that 'in all crim- 
inal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public 
trial, by an impartial jury of the State or district wherein the crime shall 
have been committed.' The safeguards which the experience and wisdom 
of ages taught our fathers to establish as securities for the protection of the 
innocent, the punishment of the guilty, and the equal administration of 
justice, are to be set aside, and lor the sake of a more rigorous interposition 
in behalf of justice, we are to take the risk of the many arts of injustice 
that would necessarily follow from an almost countless number of a.ents 
established in every parish or county in nearly a third of th : .• 3 ol the 



166 THE Tlllirry-.YI.YTH CONGRESS 

Union, over whose decisions there is to be no supervision or control by the 
I ■ icral courts. The power that would be thus placed in the hands of th<- 
Presidenl is such as in tii f pe rtainly ought never t'> be intrust 

to any out: man 

h i' be isked whether the creation of such a tribunal within a 
warrant) a measure "f war, the question immediately pres 
whether we are still engaged in war Lei us not unnecessarily disturb the 
commerce and credit and industry of the country by declaring to the An 
ican people and to tin' world, that the United States are >-ti!l in a condition 
dt' civil war. At present there is no pan of our country in which the au- 
thority of the United States is disputed, Offenses that may i. mmitted 

by individuals should not work a forfeiture of the rights of whole commu- 
nities The country has returned, or is returning, to a state of peace and 
industry, and the rebellion is in fact at an end. The measure, therefi 

in.- to be as inconsistent with the actual condition of the country a- it is 
at variance with the Constitution of the United Sta 

"If, passing from general <Mii-i.lir.niMn-. we examine the ''ill in detail, 
it is open to weighty objections. 

In time of war it was eminently proper that we Bhould provide for •' 
who were passing suddenly from a condition of bondage to a 

(lom. But this liill prop to make the Freedmen's Bureau, established by 

the act of 1865 as one of many great and extraordinary military u 
suppress n formidable rebellion, a permanent branch of the public admin 

■ion, with it> powers greatly enlarged. 1 have no reason to suppose, and I 

d not understand it to in- alleged, that tin- art of March, 18G5, has proved 

cieut lor tlio purpose for which it was passed, although at that time, 

I for a considerable period thereafter, the Government '■:' the United 
."Mates remained unacknowledged in most of tin- Sta;.'- whose inhabitants 
had been involved in tin' rebellion. The institution of slavery, for the uiili- 

n of which tlio Freedmen's Bureau was called it 
an auxiliary, has been already effectually ami finally abi throughout 

the whole country by an amendment of the Constitution of the United Stat..-, 

ami practically it- eradication ha- ri i\<-<l the assent ami concurrence 

-i of those Siatc- in whirh it at any time had an existence. 1 am not, 
therefore, able to discern, in the condition of the country, any thing 
tii'v tin apprehension that the powers ami agencies "i' the Freedmen's Bu 
reau, which were effective for the protection of freedmen ami refugees dur- 
ing the actual continuance of hostilities an. I of African servitude, will now, 
in a time of peace and after the abolition of slavery, prove inadequate to 
tin' -amc proper ends If I am correct in these views, there can 1..- no ne 
ity for the enlargement of the powers of the bureau, for which provision 
i- made in the hill 

"The third Bection of the hill authorizes a general and unlin rant 

of support to tin' destitute aid Buffering ■ - aid freedmen, their wh 

ami children Sue. ding sections make provision for the rent or purchase 

of landed estates for fr linen, ami lor the erection for their benefit of suit- 
able buildings for asylums ami schools, tin- expenses t i be defrayed from 
tie- IV 'fth.' whole | pie The ' - of the United Stat - has 



THE FREEDME.V. 167 

never heretofore thought itself empowered to establish asylums beyond the 
limits of the District of Columbia, except for the benefit of our disabled 
soldiers and sailors. It has never founded schools for any class of our own 
people, not even for the orphans of those who have fallen in the defense of 
the Union; but has left the care of education to the much more competent 
and efficient control of the Stale-, of communities, of private associations, 
and of individuals. It has never deemed itself authorized to expend the 
public money for the rent or purchase of homes for the thousands, not to 
say millions, of the white race, who are honestly toiling from day to day 
for their subsistence. A system for the support of indigent persons in the 
United States was never contemplated by the authors of the Constitution, 
nor can any good reason be advanced why, as a permanent establishment, 
it should be founded for one class or color of our people more than another. 
Pending the war. many refugees and freedmen received support from the 
Government, but it was never intended that they should thenceforth be fed, 
clothed, educated, and sheltered by the United States. The idea on which 
the slaves were assisted to freedom was that, on becoming free, they would 
be a self-sustaining population. Any legislation that shall imply that they 
are not expected to attain a self-sustaining condition must have a tendency 
injurious alike to their character and their prospects. 

"The appointment of an agent for every county and parish will create an 
immense patronage; and the expense of the numerous officers and their 
clerks, to be appointed by the President, will be great in the beginning, 
with a tendency steadily to increase. The appropriations asked by the 
Freedmen's Bureau, as now established, for the year 1866, amount to 
$11,745,000. It may be safely estimated that the cost to be incurred under 
the pending bill will require double that amount— more than the entire 
sum expended in any one year under the administration of the second 
Adams. If the presence of agents in every parish and county is to be con- 
sidered as a war measure, opposition, or even resistance, might be pro- 
voked, so that, to give effect to their jurisdiction, troops would have to • 
stationed within reach of every one of them, and thus a large standing 
force be rendered necessary. Large appropriations would therefore be re- 
required to sustain and enforce military jurisdiction in every county or 
parish from the Potomac to the Kio Grande. The condition of our fiscal 
affairs is encouraging, but, in order to sustain the present measure of pub- 
lic confidence, it is necessary that we practice not merely customary econ- 
omy, but, as far as possible, severe retrenchment. 

"In addition to the objections already stated, the fifth section of the bill 
proposes to take away land from its former owners without any legal pro- 
ceedings being first had, contrary to that provision of the < institution which 
declares that no person shall 'be deprived of life, liberty, or property, with- 
out due process of law.' It does not appear that a part of the lands to which 
this section nd'ers may not be owned by minors or persons of unsound mind. 
or by those who have been faithful to all their obligations as citizens of the 
United States. If any portion of the land is held by such persons, it is not 
competent for any authority to deprive them of it. If, on the other hand, 
it be found that the property is liable to confiscation, even then it can not 



THE TJllirr)--.YI.\Tll CONGL 

be ted to public par intil, by due pr - if law, it shall 

bav< declared Forfeited to the Government 

- ill further objection to the bill on grounds seriously affecting 
the ss of persons to whom it is sign sd t<> bring relief; it will tend to 

• mind • reedman in a Btate of uncertain expectation and r< 

lessn to the ■■ among whom he lives it will be a source of constant 

and pprehension 

"Undoubtedly the freedman should be protected, but he Bhould be pro- 
ivil authorities, especially by the exercise <>[' all the constitu- 
tional powers of the courts of the United States and <it' th< - - His 
condition is not so exposed as may at first be imagined, lie is in a portion 
of the country where his labor can not well be spared. Competition for 
his services from planters from those who are constructing or repairing 
railroads, and from capitalists in his vicinage or from other States, will en- 
able him to command almost his own terms. He also > - a per 
right to change his place of abode; and if, therefore, he - not find in 
one community or Stat.' a mode of life suited to his desires, or proper re- 
muneration for his labor, he ran move to another, where that labor is more 

eemed and better rewarded. In truth, however, each State, induced l»v 
its own wants and interests, will do what is necessary and proper to retain 
within its borders all the labor that is needed for the developmenl of its 
resources. The laws that regulate supply and demand will maintain their 
force, and the wages of the laborer will be regulated therein-. There is no 
danger that the exceedingly great demand for labor will not operate in favor 
of the laborer. 

"Neither is sufficient consideration given to the ability of the freedmen 
to protect and take care of themselves It is no more than justice to them 
to believe that, as they have received their freedom with moderation and 
forbearance, so they will distinguish themselves by their industry and thrift, 
and soon show the world that, in a condition of freedom, they are self-sus- 
taining, capable of selecting their own employment and their own places 
of abode, of insisting for themselves on a pi aiuneration, and of 

tablishing and maintaining their own asylums and schools. It is earnestly 
hoped that, instead of wasting away, they will, by their own efforts, estab- 
lish for themselves a condition of respect, ability, and prosperity. It is 
certain that they can attain to that condition only through their own merits 
and exertions. 

"In this connection the query presents itself, whether the system pro- 
posed bj the bill will not, when put into complete operation, practically 
trans er the entire care, support, and control of four million emancipated 
slaves t" agents, overseers, or task-masters, who, appointed at Washington, 
are to he located in every countj and parish throughout the I nited States 
containing freedmen and refugees? Such a Bystem would inevitably tend 
(,, ., C o tion of power in the Executive which would enable him, if so 

(lisp I. to control the action of this numerous class and use them for the 

ininenl of Ids own political end-. 

I can not hut add another verj grave objection to this bill: The Consti- 
tution imperatively declares, in connection with a, that each State 



THE FREEDMEjY. 169 

shall have at least one Representative, and fixes the rule for the number to 
which, in future times, each State >hall be entitled. It also provides that 
the Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from 
each State, and adds, with peculiar force, 'that no State, withoul its con- 
sent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate. The original 
act wa> necessarily passed in the absence of the States chiefly to be af- 
fectedj because their people were th.-n contumaciously engaged in the re- 
bellion. Now the ease is changed, and some, at least, of those States are 
attending ('(ingress by loyal Representatives, soliciting the allowance of the 
constitutional right of representation. At the time, however, of the consid- 
eration and the passing of this bill, there was no Senator or Representative 
in Congress from the eleven States which are to be mainly affected by its 
provisions. The very fact that reports were and are mad.- against the good 
disposition of the people of that portion of the country is an additional reason 
why they need, and should have. Representatives of their own in Congress to 
explain their condition, reply to accusations, and assist, by their local knowl- 
edge, in the perfecting of measures immediately affecting themselves. While 
the liberty of deliberation would then be free, and Congress would have full 
power to decide according to its judgment, there could be no objection urged 
that the States most interested had not been permitted to be heard. The 
principle is firmly fixed in the minds of the American people that there 
should he no taxation without representation. 

"Great burdens have now to be borne by all the country, and Ave may 
best demand that they shall be borne without murmur when they are voted 
by a majority of the Represetatives of all the people. 1 would not inter- 
fere with the unquestionable right of Congress to judge, each house for 
itself, 'of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members,' but 
that authority can not be construed as including the right to shut out, in 
time of peace, any State from the representation to which it is entitled by 
the Constitution. At present, all the people of eleven States are excluded— 
those wlm were most faithful during the war not less than others. The 
State of Tennessee, for instance, whose authorities engaged in rebellion, 
was restored to all her constitutional relations to the Union by the patriot- 
ism and energy of her injured and betrayed people. Before the war was 
brought to a termination, they had placed themselves in relation with the 
General Government, had established a State government of their own; as 
they were not included in the Emancipation Proclamation, they, by their 
own act, had amended their Constitution so as to abolish slavery within 
the limits of their State. 1 know no reason why the State of Tennessee, 
for example, should not fully enjoy 'all her constitutional relation- to the 
United Mate-. 

-The President of the United States stands toward the country in a some- 
what different attitude from that of any member of Congress. Each mem- 
ber of Congress is chosen from a single district or State: the President is 
chosen by the people of all the States. As deven are not at this time rep- 
resented in either branch of Congress, it would seem to be his duty, on all 
proper occasions, to present their just claim- to Congress. I here always 
will be differences of opinion in the community, and individuals may be 



170 THE THIRTY-.YI.YTH COJTGBJES& 

be guilty of transgressions of the law; but these <h> nol itute valid 

objections against the right of a State to representation. I would in nowh 
interfere with the discretion of Congress with regard to the qualifications 
of members; but 1 hold it my duty to recommend to you, in the interes 
of peace and in the interests of union, the admission of every Stat.' to its 
Bhare in public legislation when, however insubordinate, insurgent, or re- 
bellious its people may have been, it presents itself, not only in an attitude 
of loyalty and harmony, but in the persona of Representatives whose lo; 
alty can not be questioned under any existing constitutional or legal I 

■It is plain that an indefinite or permanent exclusion of any part of the 
country from representation must be attended by a spirit of disquiet and 
complaint. It is uuwise and dangerous to pursue a course of measu 
which will unite a very large section of the country against another section 
of the country, however much the latter may preponderate. The course of 
emigration, the development of industry and business, and natural causes will 
raise up at the South men as devoted to the Union as those of any other 

part of the land. But if they are all excluded from Congr if, in a p 

manenl statute, they are declared not to be in full constitutional relations 
to the country— they may think they have cause to become a unit in feeling 
and Bentiment against the (lovernment. Under the political education of 

the American people, the idea is inherent and ineradicable that th n- 

sent of the majority of the whole people is necessary to Becure a willing 
acquiescence in legislation 

"The bill under consideration refers to certain of the Si itea as though 
they had not L been fully restored in all their constitutional relations to the 
United States.' If they have not, lei us at once act together to secure that 
desirable end at the earliest possible moment It is hardly necessary for me 
to inform Congress that, in my own judgment, most of these States, bo tar. 
at least, as depends upon their own action, have already been fully restored, 
and are to be deemed as entitled to enjoy their constitutional rights as mem- 
}„. v> f the I nion. Reasoning from the Constitution itself, and from the 
actual situation of the country, 1 feel not only entitled but bound to ; 
Mime that, with the Federal courts restored, and those of the several States 
in the full exercise of their functions, the rights and interests of all class 
f the people will, with the aid of the military in cases of resistance to the 
l aW8 | , iallj protected against unconstitutional infringement or viola- 

tion. Should this expectation unhappily fail -which 1 do not anticipate— 
t neI1 the Executive is already full} armed with the power- conferred by the 

;1 ,. t of March, 1865, establishing the Fr linen's Bureau, and hereafter, as 

heretofore, he can employ the land and naval forces of the country to sup- 
press insurrection or to overcome obstructions to the laws 

■ In accordance with the Constitution, I return the bill to the Senate, in 
the earnest hope that a measure involving questions and interests so im- 
portanl to th untry will not become a law unless, upon deliberate con- 
sideration b> th.- people, it -hall receive the sanction of an enlightened 
P^lio judgment ^^ J0HNg0N , 



THE FREEDMEN. 171 

The majority of the Senate was in favor of proceeding imme- 
diately to the consideration of the message, and to have a vote as 
to whether the bill should be passed, " the objections of the Presi- 
dent to the contrary notwithstanding." To this Mr. Lane, of 
Kansas, was opposed. He said: "There are several Senators 
a! (sent, and I think it but just to them that they should have an 
opportunity to be present when the vote is taken on this bill. I 
can not consent, so long as I can postpone this question by the 
rules of the Senate, to have a vote upon it to-night." Mr. Lane 
accordingly made four successive motions to adjourn, in each of 
which he called for the yeas and nays. Finally, the motion for 
adjournment having been made for the fifth time, it was carried, 
with the understanding that the bill should be the pending ques- 
tion at one o'clock on the following day. 

On that day, February 20th, the bill and the message came 
dulv before the Senate. Mr. Davis obtained the floor, and made 
a long speech in opposition to the bill and in favor of the Veto 
Message. He expressed his aversion to the bill, and the objects 
sought to be attained under it in very emphatic terms, but added 
nothing; to the arguments which had already been adduced. 

Mr. Trumbull replied to the objections urged against the bill 
in the President's Message. The President said, "The bill, 
should it become a law will have no limitation in point of time, 
but will form a part of the permanent legislation of the country." 

"The object of the bill," replied Mr. Trumbull, "was to con- 
tinue in existence the Freedmen's Bureau — not as a permanent in- 
stitution. Any such intent was disavowed during the discussion of 
the bill. It is true, no time is expressly limited in the bill itself 
when it shall cease to operate, nor is it customary to insert such 
a clause in a law; but it is declared that the bill shall operate 
until otherwise provided by law. It is known that the Congress 
of the United States assembles every year, and no one supposed 
that this bill was to establish a bureau to be ingrafted upon the 
country as a permanent institution; far from it. Nor is it a bill 
that is intended to go into the States and take control of the do- 
mestic alfairx of the States." 

"There is no immediate necessity for the proposed measure," 
said the President; "the act to establish a Bureau for the Relief 
of Freedmen and Refugees, which was approved in the month of 



1 : l THE Til III T i -. YIN Til cu.\ 7 / R ESS. 

March last, has not yet expired. It was thought stringent and 
extensive enough for the purpose in view in time of war/ 5 

Mr. Trumbull replied: " By the terms of the act, it was t<> con- 
tinue 'during the present war of rebellion and for one year there- 
after.' Now, when did the war of rebellion cease? So far as the 
conflict of arms is concerned, we all admit that the war of rebell- 
ion ceased when the last rebel army laid down it- arm.-, and that 
was some time in the month of May, when the rebel army in 
Texas surrendered to the Union forces. I d" not hold that the 
consequences of the war arc over. I do aot understand that 
peace is restored with all its consequences. We have aot yet 
escaped from the evils inflicted by the war. Peace and harmony 
are nol yet restored, but the war of rebellion is over, and this 
bureau must expire in .May next, according to the terms of the 
act that was passed on the 3d of March, 1865, and according to 
the view- of the President as expressed in his Veto Mi _ 

•• The bill," said the President, " proposes to establish by author- 
ity of Congress, military jurisdiction over all parts of the United 
State- containing refugees and freedmen." 

'• I would like to know," said Mr. Trumbull, "where in that 
bill is any provision extending military jurisdiction over all parts 
of the United State- containing refugees and freedmen? The Kill 
contain- no such clause. It is a misapprehension of the bill. 
The clause of the hill upon thai subject is this: 

"'And the President of the Qnited States, through the War Department 
and ili" commissioner, shall extend military jurisdiction and protection over 
all employes, agents, and officers «'t" this bureau in the exercise of rlie duties 
imposed or authorized bj this act or the act to which this i< additional.' 

•■ 1- not the difference manifest to every body between a bill 
that extend- military jurisdiction over the officers and employ 
of the bureau and a bill which should extend military jurisdiction 
overall pan- of the United State- containing refugees and freed- 
men? This hill makes the Freedmen's Bureau a part of the War 
Department. It makes it- officers and agents amenable to the 
Rules aud Articles of War. But does that extend jurisdiction 
over tin- whole country where they arc.' How do they differ from 
any other portion of the army of the United States? The army 
of the United States, a- every one know-, i- governed by the 
Rules and Article- of War, wherever it ma\ he. whether in Indi- 



THE FREE DM EX. 173 

ana or in Florida, and all persons in the army and a part of the 
military establishment arc subject t<> these Rules and Articles of 
War; but did any body ever suppose that the whole country where 
they were was under military jurisdiction'.' If a company of sol- 
diers are stationed at one of the forts in \e\v York harbor, the 
officers and soldiers of that company are subject to military juris- 
diction \ hut was it ever supposed that the people of the State of 
New York were thereby placed under military jurisdiction ? It 
is an entire misapprehension of the provisions of the bill. It ex- 
tends military jurisdiction nowhere: it merely places under juris- 
diction the persons belonging to the Freedmen's Bureau who, 
nearly all of them, are now under military jurisdiction." 

" The country," objected the President, " is to be divided into 
districts and sub-districts, and the number of salaried agents to 
be employed may be equal to the number of counties or parishes 
in all the States where freedmen and refugees are to be found." 

Mr. Trumbull replied: "A single officer need not be employed 
other than those we now have. I have already stated that it is 
in the power and discretion of the President to detail from the 
army officers to perform all the duties of the Freedmen's Bureau, 
and, in case they are detailed, the bill provides that they shall 
serve without any additional compensation or allowance. But, 
sir, is it necessary, or was it ever contemplated, that there should 
be an officer or agent of the Freedmen's Bureau in every county 
and every parish where refugees and freedmen are to be found? 
By no means. What is the bill upon that subject? Does it 
make it imperative upon the President to appoint an agent in 
each county and parish? It authorizes him ' when the same 
shall be necessary for the operations of the bureau;' not other- 
wise. He has no authority, under the bill, to apppoint a single 
agent unless it is necessary for the operations of the bureau, and 
then he can only appoint so many as may be needed. Sir, it 
never entered the mind, I venture to say, of a single advocate 
of this bill, that the President of the United States would so 
abuse the authority intrusted to him as to station an agent in 
every county in these States; but it was apprehended that there 
might be localities in some of these States where the prejudice 
and hostility of the white population and the former masters 
were such toward the negroes that it would be necessary to 
have an agent in every county in that locality for their protec- 



174 nit '- thirty-ninth congress. 

tiuu; ami. in order to give the President the necessary discre- 
tion where this should be requisite, the liill authorized, when it 
was necessary for the operations of the bureau, the appointment 
of an agent in each county or parish. In order to vest the Pres- 
ident with sufficient power in some localities, it was necessary, 
elating by general law, to give him much larger power than 
would be accessary in other localities. 

"Sir, the country is not to be divided, I undertake to say, 
into districts and sub-districts unless the President of the United 
Stan- finds ii necessary to do so for the protection of these peo- 
ple; and if the law should be abused in that respect, i: would be 
because he abused the discretion vested in him by Congress, and 
not because the law required it. Lt make- do such requirement." 

"Tins military jurisdiction," said the President, " also extends 
to all questions that may arise respecting contracts." 

••So far," replied Mr. Trumbull, " from extending this military 
jurisdiction over all questions arising concerning contracts, and 
so far from extending military jurisdiction anywhere, it is ex- 
pressly provided, by the very terms of the bill, that no Buch juris- 
diction shall be exercised except where the President himself has 
established and is maintaining military jurisdiction, which he is 
now doing in eleven State-; and the very moment that he ceases to 
maintain military jurisdiction, that very moment the military juris- 
diction conferred over freedmen by this act ceases and terminates. 

••Sir. the whole jurisdiction to try and dispose of cases by the 
officers and agents of the Freedmen's Bureau is expressly limited 
to the time when these State- shall be restored to their constitu- 
tional relation-, and when the courts of the Tinted States and 
of the States are not interrupted nor interfered with in the peace- 
able course of justice. So far, then, from the bill establishing a 
military jurisdiction, upon which the Senator from Kentucky 
and other Senator- have so much harped, it confers no jurisdic- 
tion to try cases one moment alter the court- are restored, and 
are no longer interrupted in the peaceable administration of jus- 
tice. Let me ask by what authority is it that military tribunals 
are sitting to-day at Alexandria, Virginia? By what authority 

i- it that the writ of habeCL8 COTpUS is suspended to-day in eleven 
State-, when the Constitution of the Tinted States suys that the 
writ shall not he BUSpended except when, in cases of rebellion 
and invasion, the public safety may require it. By what author- 



THE FREEDMEjY. 175 

ity dose the President of the United States object to the exercise 
of military jurisdiction by that part of the army charged with 
the execution of the provisions of the Freedmen's Bureau when 
he exercises that military jurisdiction himself by other portions 
of the army? But a few days since a military commission was 
sitting in Alexandria, trying persons charged with crimes — and 
they are held all over the South — and yet that part of the army 
connected with the Freedmen's Bureau can not exercise any such 
authority because it is unconstitutional — unconstitutional to do 
by virtue of a law of Congress what is done without any law ! 

"Where does the Executive get the power? The Executive 
is but the Commander-in-chief of the armies, made so by the 
Constitution; but he can not raise an army or a single soldier, 
he can not appoint a single officer, without the consent of Con- 
gress. He can not make any rules and regulations for the gov- 
ernment of the army without our permission. The Constitution 
of the United States declares, in so many words, that Congress 
shall have power 'to make rules for the government and regula- 
tion of the land and naval forces ' of the United States. Can it 
be that that department of the Government, vested in express 
terms by the Constitution itself with authority to make rules for 
the government and regulation of the land and naval forces, has 
no authority to direct that portion of the land and naval forces 
employed in the Freedmen's Bureau to exercise this jurisdiction 
instead of department commanders? Sir, it is competent for 
Congress to declare that no department commanders shall exer- 
cise any such authority ; it is competent for Congress to declare 
that a court-martial shall never sit, that a military commission 
shall never be held, and the President is as much bound to 
obey it as the humblest citizen in the land." 

The President said : " The trials having their origin under this 
bill are to take place without the intervention of a jury, ami 
without any fixed rules of law or evidence." 

"Do not all military trials take place in that way," asked Mr. 
Trumbull. "Did any body ever hear of the presentment of a 
grand jury in a case where a court-martial set for the trial <>t' ;i 
military offense, or the trial of a person charged with any offense 
cognizable before it? This Freedmen's Bureau Bill confers no 
authority to do this except in those regions of country where 
military authority prevails, where martial law is established, 



176 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

where persona i sercising civil authority act in subordination to 
the military power, and where the moment they transcend the 
proper limits as fixed by military orders, they are liable to be 
arrested and punished without the intervention of a grand jury, 
or without the right of appeal to any of the judicial tribunals of 
the country. I would as soon think of an appeal from the d 
ion 'it' the military tribunal that sat in the city of Washington, 
and condemned to death the murderers of our late President, to 
the judicial tribunals <>t' the country! VThere military authority 
bears sway, where the courts are overborne, is it not an absurd- 
ity to say that you must have a presentment <>t' a grand jury, 
and a trial in a court." 

"I can not reconcile a system of military jurisdiction of this 
kind with the words of the Constitution," said the President. 

"If you can not reconcile a system of military jurisdiction of 
this kind with the words of the Constitution, why have you been 
exercising it," asked Mr. Trumbull. "Why have you been or- 
ganizing courts-martial and military commissions all over the 
South, trying offenders, and punishing some of them with death".' 
Why have you authorized the present Freedmen's Bureau to hold 
bureau courts all through the South? This has all been done by 
your permission, and is being done to-day. Then, sir, if you are 
still in the exercise of this power now, if you have been exercis- 
ing it from the day you became President of the United States, 
how i< it that you can not reconcile a system of jurisdiction of 
this kind with the words of the Constitution? 

"Sir, does it detract from the President's authority to have 
the sanction of law? I want to give that sanction. I do not 
object to the exercise of this military authority of the President 
in the rebellious State-. I believe ii is constitutional and legiti- 
mate and necessary; hut I believe Congress has authority to 

regulate it. I believe Congress has authority to direct that this 
military jurisdiction shall he exercised by that branch of the 
army known as the Freedmen's Bureau, as well as by any other 
branch of the army." 

"The rebellion is at an end," said the President. "The 
measure, therefore, seems to he as inconsistent with the actual 

condition of the country as it is at variance with the Constitution 

«.f the United States." 

Mr. Trumbull replied: " If the rebellion is at an end, will any 



/w 



THE FREEDMEN. 17 

body fell nu> by what authority the President of the United States 
suspends the writ of habeas corpus in those States where it existed. 
The net of Congress of March, 1863, authorized the President of 
the United States to suspend the writ of habeas corpus during the 
present rebellion. He says it is at an end. By what authority, 
then, does he suspend the writ? By his own declaration, lei 
him stand or fall. If it is competent to suspend the writ, if it 
is competent for military tribunals to sit all through the South, 
and entertain military jurisdiction, this bill, which does not con- 
tinu military jurisdiction, docs not establish military jurisdiction, 
but only authorizes the officers of this bureau, while military 
jurisdiction prevails, to take charge of that particular class of 
cases iffecting the refugee or freedman where he is discriminated 
against, can not be obnoxious to any constitutional objection." 

"" his bill," said the President, "proposes to make the Freed- 
men's Bureau, established by the act of 1865, as one of many 
great and extraordinary military measures to suppress a formida- 
ble i bellion, a permanent branch of the public administration, 
with its powers greatly enlarged." 

"This is a mistake," replied Mr. Trumbull; "it is not intended, 
I apprehend, by any body, certainly not by me, to make it a 
permanent branch of the public administration ; and I am quite 
sure that the powers of the bureau are not, by the amendatory 
bill, greatly enlarged. A careful examination of the amendment 
will show that it is in some respects a restriction on the powers 
already exercised." 

" The third section of the bill," the President objected, "au- 
thorizes a general and unlimited grant of support to the des- 
titute and suffering refugees and freedmen, their wives and 
children." 

"What is the third section of the bill," asked Mr. Trumbull, 
" which the President says contains such an unlimited grant of 
Support to the destitute and suffering refugees, their wives and 
children "? I will read that third section : 

"'That the Secretary of War may direct such issues of provisions, cloth- 
ing, fuel, including medical stoi-cs and transportation, and afford such aid, 
medical or otherwise, as he may deem needful for the immediate and tem- 
porary shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and freedmen, 
their wives and children, under such rules and regulations as he may direct: 
Provided, That no person shall be deemed "destitute," "suffering," or 
12 



17S THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

"dependent upon the Government for support," within the meaning of this 
;i<-t. who, being ahle t<> find employment, could, by proper industry and exer- 
tion, avoid such destitution, suffering, or dependence. 

"Does the President object to this bill on the ground that 
it authorizes medical aid to be furnished the sick? Or does he 
object tn it because of the proviso which limit- it- operation, and 
declares that nobody shall be deemed destitute and suffering un- 
der the provisions of the acl who is able, by proper industry and 
exertion, to avoid such destitution? Why, sir, it is a limitation 
on the present existing law. Does that look much like taking 
care of four million of people — a provision that expressly Limits 
the operations of this act t<> those only who can nut find employ- 
ment ".' A statement of tin- fact is all that i- necessary to meet 
tin- statement in the Veto Messag 

" The Congress of the United States," -aid the President, " has 
never heretofore thought itself empowered to establish asylums 
!> jyond the limit- of the I >istric< of ( lolumbia, except for the bene- 
fit of our disabled soldiers and sailors. It has uever founded 
schools for any class of our own people. 1: has never deemed it- 
self authorized to expend the public money for the rent or purchas 
of homes for the thousands, not t<> say millions of the white race 
who are honestly toiling from day to day for their subsistence." 

•• The answer to that is this," said Mr. Trumbull : " We never be- 
fore were in such a state as now ; never before in the history ot* this 
Government did eleven State- of the Union combine together to 
overthrow and destroy the Union; never before in the history of 
this Government have we had a four years' civil war; never before 
in the history of this Government have nearly four million peo- 
ple been emancipated from the most abject and degrading slavery 
ever imposed upon human beings; uever before has the occasion 
arisen when it was necessary to provide for such large numbers 
of people thrown upon the bounty of the Government unpro- 

ted and unprovided for. Ian, sir, wherever the necessity did 
exist tin Government has acted. We have voted hundreds of 
thousands and millions of dollar-, and are doing it from year to 
year, to take care of and provide for the destitute and suffering 
Indian-. We appropriated, years ago, hundreds of thousands of 
dollars to take care of and feed the savage African who wi 
landed upon our coast by slavers. We provided by law that 
whenever savages from Africa should be brought to our shores, 



THE FREEDMEX. 170 

or whenever they should be captured on board of slavers, the 
President of the United States should make provision for their 
maintenance and support, for five years, on the coast of Africa. 
He was authorized by law to appoint agents to go to Africa to 
provide means to i'red them, and we paid the money to do it. 
And yet, sir, can we not provide for these Africans who have 
been held in bondage all their lives, who have never been per- 
mitted to earn one dollar for themselves, who, by the great Con- 
stitutional Amendment declaring freedom throughout the land, 
have been discharged from bondage to their masters, who had 
hitherto provided for their necessities in consideration of their 
services? Can we not provide for these destitute persons of our 
own land on the same principle that we provide for the Indians, 
that we provide fir the savage African?" 

"But," continued Mr. Trumbull, "the President says we have 
never rented lands for the white race, we have never purchased 
lands for them. What do we propose to do by this bill? This 
authorizes, if the President thinks proper to do it — it is in his 
discretion — the purchase or renting of lands on which to place 
these indigent people; but before any land can be purchased or 
rented, before any contract can be made on the subject, there 
must be an appropriation made by Congress. This bill con- 
tains no appropriation. If the President is opposed to the rent 
or purchase of land, and Congress passes a bill appropriating 
money for that purpose, let him veto it if he thinks it unconsti- 
tutional ; but there is nothing unconstitutional in this bill. This 
bill does not purchase any land; but it prevents even a contract 
on the subject until another law shall be passed appropriating the 
money for that purpose. 

"But, sir, what is the objection to it if it did appropriate the 
money? I have already undertaken to show, and I think I have 
shown,-that it was the duty of the United States, as an indepen- 
dent nation, as one of the powers of the earth, whenever there 
came into its possession an unprotected class of people, who must 
suffer and perish but for its care, to provide for and take care of 
them. When an army is marching through an enemy's country, 
and poor and destitute persons are found within it< lines who 
must die by starvation if they are not fed from the supplies of the 
army, will any body show me the constitutional provision or tie- 
act of Congress that authorizes the general commanding to open 



/ w rif /■: run; r r-> \i. \ rir coj\ G 1 1 ess. 

and feed the starving multitude? And has 
been done by every one of yum' commanders all through the 
South? Whenever a starving human being, man, woman, or 
child, no matter whether black or white, rebel or loyal, came 
within the lines of the army, to perish and die unless fed from 
our - is, there has never been an officer in our service, and,, 

thank God! there has not been, who did not relieve the sufferer. 
If you want to know where the constitutional power to do this 
is, and where the law is, I answer, it i- in that common humanity 
that b< i every man fit to bear tin- name, and it is in that 

at belongs to us as a Christian nation, carrying on war 
upon civilized principles. 

"If we had the right then to feed those people as we did, have 
we not the right to take care of them in the cheapest way we 
can? If. when General Sherman was passing through Georgia, 
he found the lands abandoned; if their able-bodied owners had 
entered the rebel army to iiidit against us: if the women and 
children had fled and left the land a waste, and he had, as i- the 
fact, thousands of persons hanging upon his army dependent upon 
him for supplies; if it was believed that it would be cheaper to 
support these people upon these lands than to buy provisions to 
feed them, might we not >\^ so? May we not resort to whatever 
menus is most judicious to protect from starvation that multitude 
which common humanity requires us to i'vvil'.' 

" Nor. sir, is it true that no provision has been made by Con- 
gress for the education of white people. We have given all 
through the new Stat.- one section of land in every town-hip for 
the benefit of common schools. We have donated hundred- "f 
thousands of acres of land to all the States for the establishment 
of colleges and seminaries of learning. How did we get this 
land.' It was purchased by our money, and then we gave it 
away for purposes of education. The same right exists now to 
provide f.»r these people, and it is not simply for the black peo- 
ple, but for the wh'n.' refugees a- well as the black, that this hill 
provide s." 

Said the President: "The appropriation- asked by the Freed- 
men's Bureau, as now established, for the year L866, amount.- to 
$11,745,000. It may he safely estimated that the cost to he in- 
curred under the pending hill will require double that amount." 

Mr. Trumbull replied : " A tar larger -urn, in proportion to the 



THE FREED MEN. 181 

number that wore thrown upon our hands, was expended before 
the creation of the Freedmen's Bureau, in feeding and taking care 
of refugees and freedmen, than since the establishment of the 
Freedmen's Bureau. Since that time, the authority of the Gov- 
ernment has been extended over all the rebellious States, and we 
have had a larger number of refugees and freedmen to provide 
for, but in proportion to the number I have no doubt thai the 
expense is less now than it was before the establishment of the 
bureau." 

"The query again presents itself," said the President, "whether 
the system proposed by the bill will not, when put into complete 
operation, practically transfer the entire care, support, and control 
of four million emancipated slaves to agents, overseers, or task- 
masters, who, appointed at Washington, are to be located in every 
county and parish throughout the United States containing freed- 
men and refugees." 

" I scarcely know how to reply to that most extravagant state- 
ment," said Mr. Trumbull. " I have already shown that it would 
be a great abuse of the power conferred by this bill to station an 
ao-ent in everv county. I have already stated that but a small 
proportion of the freedmen are aided by the Freedmen's Bureau. 
In this official document the President has sent to Congress the 
exaggerated statement that it is a question whether this bureau 
would not bring under its control the four million emancipated 
slaves. The census of 1860 shows that there never were four 
million slaves in all the United States, if you counted every man, 
woman, and child, and we know that the number has not in- 
creased during the war. But, sir, what will be thought when ! 
show, as I shall directly show by official figures, that, so far from 
providing for four million emancipated slaves, the Freedmen's 
Bureau never yet provided for a hundred thousand, and, as re- 
stricted by the proviso to the third section of the present hill, it 
could never be extended, under it, to a larger number. Is it not 
most extraordinary that a bill should be returned with the veto 
from the President on the ground that it provides for four million 
people, when, restricted in its operations as it is, and having been 
in operation since March last, it has never had under its control 
a hundred thousand - / 1 have here an official .statement from the 
Freedmen's Bureau, which I beg leave to read in this connection : 



18$ THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGEES 

•■ 'The greatest number of | - to whom rations were issued, including 

tin C mmissary Department, the bureau issues to . with tut the army, 

i- one hundred and forty-eij isand one hundred and twe 

"Who arc they? i said there were not a hundred thousand 
freedmen provided for by the bureau. 

Whites, 57,369 ; colored ' Indians, 133 i test i n bcrby 

the bureau was 49,932, in September The t ital number for December was 
17,025.' 

Chai sounds a little different from four millions. Seventeen 
thousand and twenty-live were all that were provided for by the 
Freedmen's Bureau in the month of December last, the number 
getting Less and less every month. Why - .' Because, by the kind 
and judicious management of that bureau, places of employment 
were found for these refugees and freedmen. When the freedmen 
Mere discharged from their master.-' plantations they were assisted 
to find places of work elsewhere. 

■■ The President says," continued Mr. Trumbull, "thai < Jongress 
never thoughl of making these provisions for the win;, people. 
Lei us see what provisions have been made for the white people. 
Major-General Fisk, Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau for 
the State of Tennessee, in his testimony given before the Recon- 
struction Committee, said: 

During the last year, the rations issued to white | in Tennet 

have been much in excess el' tln.se issued to freedmen. When I took chai 
of my district the Government was feeding twenty-five thousand people; in 
round numbers, about seventeen thousand five hundred white persona and 
seven thousand Macks. The month preceding the establishment of the 
Freedmen' 8 Bureau, for rations alone for thai class of people the sum oi 
000 was paid. My first efforts were to reduce the number of those 
beneficiaries of the Government, to withhold the rations, and make the 
people Belf-supporting as far as possible; and in the course of four months 
I reduced the monthly ex] 

•• In addition to the objections already stated," said the Presi- 
dent, "the fifth Bection of this bill proposes to take away land 

from it<s former owners, without auy legal pr dings firsl had." 

I regret," said Mr. Trumbull, "thai a statement like that 
should inadvertently (for it musl have been Inadvertent) have 
found a place in this Veto M< The fifth s >f the bill 



THE FREEDMEN. 183 

does not propose to take away lands from any body. I will read 
it, and we shall sec what it is: 

"'That the occupants of land under Major-General Sherman's special field 
order, dated at Savannah, January L6, L865, are hereby confirmed in their 
possession.' 

"Is not this a different thing from taking away land from any 
body? Do yon take a thing away from another person when you 
have it in your possession already? This fifth section, so far from 
taking land from any body, provides simply for protecting the 
occupants of the land for three years from the 16th of January, 
1865, a little less than two years from this time. If the section 
does any thing, it simply prevents the restoration of this property 
to its former owners within that period, except upon terms to be 
entered into, satisfactory to the commissioner, between the occupant 
and the former owner. This is all there is of it. It is a very 
different thing from taking away land from its former owners." 

"Undoubtedly," said the President, "the freedmen should be 
protected by the civil authorities, especially by the exercise of all 
the constitutional powers of the courts of the United States and 
of the States." 

" Let us see," replied Mr. Trumbull, " how they are protected 
by the civil authority." After having read from documents setting 
forth laws in reference to freedmen in force in Texas and Missis- 
sippi, Mr. Trumbull continued : " I have here a number of com- 
munications of a similar character, showing that, by the laws in 
some of the Southern States, a pass system still exists, and that 
the negro really has no protection afforded him either by the civil 
authorities or judicial tribunals of the State. I have letters show- 
ing the same thing in the State of Maryland, from persons whose 
character is vouched for as reliable. Under this state of things, 
the President tell- us that the freedman should be protected 'by 
the exercise of all the constitutional [towers of the courts of the 
United States and of the States!'" 

"He also possesses," said the President, referring to the freed- 
man, "a perfect right to change his place of abode; and if, there- 
fore, he does not find in one community or State a mod" of lite 
suited to his desires, or proper remuneration for his labor, he can 
move to another where that labor is more esteemed and better re- 
warded." 



184 TJII: THIRTY-NINTH CONGRE 

"Then,sir," b id Mr. Trumbull, " is there ao aecessity for some 
supervising care of tl pie? A.re they to be coldly told that 

they have a perfect right to change their place of abode, when, if 

they are caught in a strange neighborh 1 without a pass, they are 

liable to be whipp d? when combinations exisl against them that 
they shall not be permitted to hire unless to their former master? 
An I ese people, knowing nothing of geography, knowing not 
whei aving never in their lives been ten miles from the 

place where they were born, these old women and young children, 
the.- foeble persons who are turned off because they can ao longer 
work, to be told to go and seek employment elsewhere? and is the 
Governmenl of the United States, which has made them free, to 
stand by and do nothing to save and protecl them? Are they to 
be let'i to the mercy of such legislation as that of Mississip] 
such laws as exist in Texas, to such practices as are tolerated in 
Maryland and in Kentucky? Sir. I think some protection is n 
sary for them, and that was the object of this bureau. It was aot 
intended, and such is aol its effect, to interfere with the ordinary 
administration of justice in any State, not even during the rebell- 
ion. The moment that any State does justice and abolishes all 
discrimination between whites and blacks in civil rights, the judi- 
cial functions of the Freedmen's Bureau cease. 

•• But," continued Mr. Trumbull, " the President, most strangely 
of all, dwells upon the unconstitutionality of this act, without ever 
having alluded to that provision of the Constitution which its ad- 
vocates claim gives the authority to pa— it. Is it not most extra- 
ordinary that the President of the United State- returns a hill 
which ha- passed Congress, with his objections to it, alleging it 
to he unconstitutional, and make- no allusion whatever in his 
whole message to that provision ><\' the < institution \\ Inch, in the 
opinion of it- supporters, clearly gives the authority to pa— it".' 
And what i- that? The second clause of the constitutional 
amendment, which declares that Congress shall have authority 
by appropriate legislation to enforce the article which declares 
that there -hall he neither slavery nor involuntary servitude 
throughout the United State-. If legislation he necessary to 
protect the former slaves against State law-, which allow them to 
he whipped if found away from home without a pa — , lii- not 
Congress, under the second clause of the amendment, authority 
to provide it'.' What kind of freedom is that which the < lonsti- 



THE FREED MEN. 1S5 

tution of the United States guarantees to a man that does not 
protect him from the lash if he is caught away from home with- 
out a pass? And how can we sit here and discharge the consti- 
tutional obligation that is upon us to pass the appropriate legis- 
lation to protect every man in the land in his freedom, when we 
know such laws are being passed in the South, if we do nothing 
to prevent their enforcement? Sir, so far from the bill being 
unconstitutional, I should feel that I had failed in my constitu- 
tional duty if I did not propose some measure that would protect 
these people in their freedom. And yet this clause of the Con- 
stitution seems to have escaped entirely the observation of the 
President. 

" The President objects to this bill because it was passed in the 
absence of representation from the rebellious States. If that ob- 
jection be valid, all our legislation affecting those States is wrong, 
and has been wrong from the beginning. When the rebellion 
broke out, in the first year of the war, we passed a law for col- 
lecting a direct tax, and we assessed that tax upon all the rebell- 
ious States. According to the theory of the President, that was 
all wrong, because taxation and representation did not go together. 
Those States were not represented. Then, according to this ar- 
gument, (I will not read all of it,) we were bound to have re- 
ceived their Representatives, or else not legislate for and tax them. 
He insists they were States in the Union all the time, and accord- 
ing to the Constitution, each State is entitled to at least one 
Representative. 

" If the argument that Congress can not legislate for States 
unrepresented is good now, it was good during the conflict of 
arms, for none of the States whose governments were usurped 
are yet relieved from military control. If we have no right to 
legislate for those States now, we had no right to impose the 
direct tax upon them. We had no right to pass any of our 
laws that affected them. We had no right to raise an army to 
march into the rebellious States while they were not represented 
in the Congress of the United States. We had no right to pass 
a law declaring these States in rebellion. Why? The rebels 
were not here to be represented in the American Senate. We 
had no right to pass a law authorizing the President to issue a 
proclamation discontinuing all intercourse with the people of 
those rebellious States; and why? Because they were not repre- 



1SG Till-: THIRTY-NINTH CONGRE& 

sented here. We had no right to blockade their i Why? 

They were n>>t represented here. They are States, - ys th< Presi- 
dent, and each State is entitled to two Senators, and to at least 
one Representative. Suppose tie- State of South Carolina had 
sent to Cong ss, during the war, a Representative; had Congress 
nothing to do bul t<> admit him, if found qualified? Must he be 
received because he comes from a State, and a State can not go 
out of the Union? Why. sir, is any thing more necessary than 
to state this proposition to show its absolute absurdity?" 

The President said: "The Presidenl of the United States 
stands toward the country in a somewhat different attitude from 
that of any member of Congress. Each member of Congress is 
chosen from a single district or State; the President is chosen by 
the people of all the State-. As eleven States are not at this 
time represented in either branch of Congress, it would seem to 
he his duty, on all proper occasions, to present their just claims 

i longress." 

"If it would not he disrespectful/ 5 said Mr. Trumbull, "I 
should like to inquire how many votes the President got in I 
eleven State.-. Sir. he is no more the representative of those 
eleven State- than I am. exeejtt as he holds a higher position. 
I came here a- a Representative chosen by the State of Illinois; 
hut 1 came here to Legislate, not simply for the State of Illinois, 
hut for the United State- of America, and for South Carolina as 
well as Illinois. 1 deny that we are simply the Representatives 
of the districts and States which -end us here, or that we are 
governed by such narrow views that we can not legislate for the 
whole country : and we are a- much the Representatives, and. in 
this particular instance, receive as much of the support of those 
eleven State- a- did the President himself." 

Mr. Trumbull finally remarked: "The President believes this 
hill unconstitutional; 1 believe it constitutional. He believes 
that it will involve greal expensi ; 1 believe it will save expense. 
He believes that the freedmen will be protected without it: I 
believe he will he tyrannized over, abused, and virtually reen- 
slaved, without some legislation by the nation for hi- protection. 
Ik- believes it unwise; I believe it to 1"- politic." 

Without further debate, the vote was taken on the question, 

" shall the hill pass, il bjections of the President of the United 

State- notwithstanding?" The Senators voted a- follows: 



THE FREEDMEM. 187 

Yeas — Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, Comics-. Cragin, Cres- 
well. Fessenden, Foster, Grimes, Harris. Henderson. Howard, Howe, Kirk- 
wood, Lane of Indiana. Lane of Kansas, Morrill. Nye. Poland, I'oineruy, 
Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, Sumner, Trumbull, Wade. Williams, Wilson, 
and Yates — 30. 

N ays — Messrs. Buckalew, Cowan, Davis. Dixon, Doolittle, Guthrie, Hen- 
dricks, Johnson, McDougall, Morgan, Nesmith, Norton, Riddle, Saulshury, 
Stewart, Stockton, Van Winkle, and Willey — 18. 

Absent — Messrs. Foot and Wright — 2. 

The President pro tempore then announced, "On this question 
the yeas are thirty and the nays are eighteen. Two-thirds of 
the members present not having voted for the bill, it is not a 
law." 



188 THE THIRTY-jXIXTH COXGR 



CHAPTER IX. 

the civil rights bill in the senate. 

Duty of Congress consequent upon the Abolition of Slavery — Civil 
Rights Bill introduced — Reference to Judiciary Committee — Br. 
the Senate— Speech by Mr. Trumbull— Mr. Sa i -Mr. Van 

Winkle — Mr Cowan — Mr. Howard — Mr Johnson — Mi: r> wi — < 
versations with Mr. Trusibull ami Mr. Clark — Reply of Mr. John- 
son—Remarks by Mi:. Morrill — Mk. Davis "wound up"— Mr. <il 111- 
rie's Speech— Mr. Hendricks — Reply of Mk. Lane — Mr.. Wilson — 
Mk. Trumbull's closing remarks — Yeas and Nays on the passage of 
thi: Bill. 

Till-] preceding Congress having proposed an amendment to 
the Constitution by which slavery should he abolished, and 
this amendment having been "ratified by three-fourths 
the several States," four millions of the inhabitants of the Unil 
States were transformed from -lav.- into freemen. To leave them 
with their shackles broken off, unprotected, in a new and unde- 
fined position, would have been a sin against them only surpassed 
in enormity l>v the original crime <>f their enslavement. 

As provided in the amendment itself, it devolved upon Con- 
3s "to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." The 
Thirty-ninth Congress assembled, realizing that it devolved upon 
them to define the extent of the rights, privileges, ami duties 
of the freedmen. That body was not slow in meeting the lull 
measure of it- responsibility. 

Immediately on the reassembling of Congress after the holi- 
days, January •"">. 1866, Mr. Trumbull, in pursuance of previous 
notice, introduced a hill "to protect all persons in the United 
States in their civil rights, and furnish the means of their vindi- 
cation." Thi- !>ill. having been read twice, was referred to the 
( iommittee on the Judiciary. 



civil an; hts bill. isd 

It was highly appropriate that this bill, involving the relations 
of millions of the inhabitants of the United State- to the < rovern- 
ment, should be referred to this able committee, selected from 
among the men of most distinguished legal ability in the Senate. 
It- members were chosen in consideration of their high profes- 
sional ability, their long experience, and exalted standing as 
jurists. They are the legal advisers of the Senate, whose report 
upon constitutional questions is entitled to the highest consider- 
ation. 

To such a committee the Senate appropriately referred the Civil 
Rights Bill, and the nation could safely trust in their hands the 
great interests therein involved. 

The bill declares that "there shall be no discrimination in civil 
rights or immunities among the inhabitants of any State or Ter- 
ritory of the United States on account of race, color, or previous 
condition of slavery ; but the inhabitants, of every race and color, 
without regard to any previous condition of slavery or involun- 
tary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the 
party shall have been duly convicted, shall have the same right 
to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evi- 
dence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and 
personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws and 
proceedings for the security of person and property, and shall 
be subject to like punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none 
other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to the 
contrary notwithstanding. Any person who, under cover of any 
law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, shall subject, or 
cause to be subjected, any inhabitant of any State or Territory 
to the deprivation of any right secured or protected by the act, 
or to different punishment, pains, or penalties, on account of such 
person having at any time been held in a condition of slavery or 
involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof 
the party shall have been duly convicted, or by reason of his color 
or race, than is prescribed for the punishment of white persons, 
is to be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction, to 
be punished by a fine not exceeding S1,000, or imprisonment not 
exceeding one year, or both, in the discretion of the court." 

Other provisions of the bill relate to the courts which shall 
have jurisdiction of cases which arise under the act, and the means 
to be employed in its enforcement. 



190 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGh 

That no question might su to the constitutionality "f the 

law, all the provisions which relate to the enforcement of the act 
were borrowed from the celebrated Fugitive Slav Law, enacted 
in L850. It was a happy thought to compel the enemies of the 
negro themselves, as judges, to pronounce in favor of the consti- 
tutionality of this ordinance. It is an admirable illustration 
the progress of the age, that the very instruments which wi • 
used a few years before to rivet tighter the chaii - 
should be employed to break those very chains to fragments, 
shall forever stand forth to the honor of American legislation that 
it attained to more than poetic justice in using the verj me - 
once employed to repress and crush the negro for his defense and 
elevation. 

Within less than a week after the reference of this bill to the 
Judiciary Committee, it was reported hack, with no alteration 
save a few verbal amendments. On account of pressure if other 
business, it did not come up for formal consid i and discus- 

sion in the Senate until the 29th of January. On that day Air. 
Trumbull, having called up the bill for the consideration of the 
Senate, said : 

•• I regard the hill to which the attention of the Senate is now 
called, as the most important measure that has been under its 
consideration since the adoption of the constitutional amendm< I 
abolishing slavery. That amendment declared that all persons 
in the United Stat*- should be free. This measure is intended 
to give effect to that declaration, and secure to all |>er<on< within 
the United State- practical freedom. There i- very little impor- 
tance in the general declaration of abstract truth- ami princi] 
unless they can he carried into effect, unless the persons who are 
to he affected by them have some mean- of availing themselves 
of' their benefits. Of what avail was the immortal declaration 
'that all men are created equalj that they arc endowed by their 

Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are Life, 
liberty, and the pursuit i>\' happiness,' and 'that to secure thes< 
rights governments arc instituted among men.' to the millions 
of the African race in this country who were ground down and 
degraded, and subjected to a slavery more intolerable and cruel 
than the world ever before knew? Of what avail was it to the 
citizen of Massachusetts, who. a few years ago, went to South 
Carolina to enforce a constitutional right in court, that the Con- 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 191 

stitution of the United States declared that the citizens of each 
State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of 
citizens in the several States'.' And of what avail will it now 
be that the Constitution of the United States has declared that 
slavery shall not exist, if in the late slaveholding States laws are 
to be enacted and enforced depriving persons of African descenl 
of privileges which are essential to freemen? 

"It is the intention of this bill to secure those rights. The 
laws in the slaveholding States have made a distinction against 
persons of African descent on account of their color, whether free 
or slave. I have before n.e the statutes of Mississippi. They 
provide that if any colored person, any free negro or mulatto, 
shall come into that State for the purpose of residing there, he 
shall be sold into slavery for life. If any person of African 
descent residing in that State travels from one county to another 
without having a pass or a certificate of his freedom, he is liable 
to be committed to jail, and to be dealt with as a person who is 
in the State without authority. Other provisions of the statute 
prohibit any negro or mulatto from having fire-arms; and one 
provision of the statute declares that for ' exercising the functions 
of a minister oi' the Gospel, free negroes and mulattoes, on con- 
viction, may be punished by any number of lashes not exceeding 
thirty-nine, on the bare back, and shall pay the costs." Other 
provisions of the statute of Mississippi prohibit a free negro or 
mulatto from keeping a house of entertainment, and subject him 
to trial before two justices of the peace and five slaveholders for 
violating the provisions of this law 7 . The statutes of South Caro- 
lina make it a highly penal offense for any person, white or 
colored, to teach slaves; and similar provisions are to be found 
running: through all the statutes of the late slaveholding States. 

"When the constitutional amendment was adopted and slavery 
abolished, all these statutes became null and void, because they 
were all passed in aid of slavery, for the purpose of maintaining 
and supporting it. Since the abolition of slavery, the L< _ 
latures which have assembled in the insurrectionary States have 
passed laws relating to the freedmen, and in nearly all the States 
they have discriminated against them. They deny them certain 
rights, subject them to severe penalties, and still impose upon 
them the very restrictions which were imposed upon them in con- 
sequence of the existence of slavery, and before it was abolished. 



19 : Til A' Til I E T ) '-. V/. \ 'TE COJ\ 'G R ESS. 

The purpose of the bill under consideration is to destroy all 
these discriminations, and to carry into effect the constitutional 
amendment." 

After having stated somewhat at length the grounds upon 
which he placed this bill. Mr. Trumbull closed by sayint 
" Most of ili<' provisions of this ''ill arc copied from the late 
Fugitive Slave Act, adopted in 1850 for the purpose of returning 
fugitives from slavery into slavery again. The act that was 
passed at that time for the purpose of punishing persons who 
should aid negroes to escape to freedom is dow to be applied by 
the provisions of this bill to the punishment of those who shall 
undertake to keep them in slavery. Surely we have the author- 
ity to enacl a law as efficient in the interests of freedom, now that 
freedom prevails throughout the country, as we had in the interest 
of slavery when if prevailed in a portion of the country." 

Mr. Saulsbury took an entirely different view of the subject 
under consideration : " I regard this bill," he said. " as one of the 
most dangerous that was ever introduced into the Senate of tho 
United State-, or to which the attention of the American people 
was ever invited. During the last four or five years, I have sat 
in this chamber and witnessed the introduction of bills into this 
body which I thought obnoxious to many very grave and serious 

■ 

constitutional objections; but I have never, since 1 have been a 
member of the body, seen a bill so fraught with danger, so full 
of mischief, as the hill now under consideration. 

"I shall not follow the honorable Senator into a consideration 
of the manner in which slaves were treated in the Southern States, 
nor the privileges that have been denied to them by the laws of the 
States. I think the time for shedding tears over the poor slave ha- 
wed nigh passed in this country. The tears which the honest white 
people of this couutry have been made to shed from the oppres- 
sive acts of this Government, in its various departments, during 
the last four years, call more loudlv for my sympathies than those 
tear- which have been shedding and dropping and dropping for 

the Last twenty years in reference to the poor. oppr< d -lave — 

dropping from the eve- of Btrong-minded women and weak- 
minded men, until, becoming a mighty Hood, they have swept 
away, in their resistless force, .very trace of constitutional liberty 
in this country. 

" I suppose it is a foregone conclusion that this measure, as 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 193 

one of a scries of measures, is to be passed through this Congress 
regardless of all consequences. But the day that the President 
of the United States places his approval and signature to that 
Freedmen's Bureau Bill, and to this bill, he will have signed 
two acts more dangerous to the liberty of his countrymen, more 
disastrous to the citizens of this country, than all the acts which 
have been passed from the foundation of the Government to the 
present hour; and if we on this side of the chamber manifest 
anxiety and interest in reference to these bills, and the questions 
involved in them, it is because, having known this population 
all our lives, knowing them in one hour of our infancy better 
than you gentlemen have known them all your lives, we feel 
compelled, by a sense of duty, earnestly and importunately, it 
may be, to appeal to the judgment of the American Senate, and 
to reach, if possible, the judgment of the great mass of the 
American people, and invoke their attention to the awful conse- 
quences involved in measures of this character. Sir, stop, stop! 
the mangled, bleeding body of the Constitution of your country 
lies in your path; you are treading upon its bleeding body when 
you pass these laws." 

After having argued at considerable length that this bill would 
be a most unconstitutional interference on the part of the Federal 
Government with "the powers of the States under the Federal 
Constitution," the Senator from Delaware thus concluded : 

"Sir, from early boyhood I was taught to love and revere the 
Federal Union and those who made it. In early childhood I 
read the words of the Father of his country, in which he ex- 
horted the people to cling to the union of these States as the 
palladium of liberty, and my young heart bounded with joy in 
reading the burning words of lofty patriotism. I was taught in 
infancy to admire, as far as the infant mind could admire, our 
free system of government, Federal and State; and I heard the 
old men say that the wit of man never devised a better or more 
lovely system of government. When I arrived at that age when 
I could study and reflect for myself, the teachings of childhood 
were approved by the judgment of the man. 

"I have seen how under this Union we had become great in 
the eyes of all nations; and I see now, notwithstanding the hor- 
rible afflictions of war, if we can have wisdom in council and 

sincere purpose to subserve the good of the whole people of the 
13 



/■•, EE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

United : though much that was dear to us has beeu bias 

as by the pestilence thai walketh in darkness and the destruction 
that wasteth at noonday, how we might, in the providence of 
God, resume our former position among the nation- of the earth, 
and command the reaped of the whole civilized world. But, sir, 
to-day, in viewing and in considering this bill, the thought has 
occurred to me, how happy were tin 1 founders of our Federal sys- 
tem of government, that they had been taken from the council 
chambers of this nation and from among their fellow-men before 
bill.- of this character were seriously presented for legislative con- 
sideration. Happily for them, tiny sleep their lasl sleep, and — 

How sleep tin- brave who sink to i 
By all their country's wishes blest! 
When Spring, with dewy fingers cold, 
Returns t>> deck their hallowed mold, 
She there shall dress a sweeter sod 
Than Fancy's feet have ever trod. 

"'By fairy hands their knell is rung; 
By forms unseen their dirge is suntr: 
Til.-)-.' 1 1 .Mi, i]- comes, a pilgrim gray, 
Th bless tli" turf that wrap- their clay; 
Ami Freedom -hall henceforth repair 
Ami dwell a weeping hermit tie 

On the following day, Air. Van Winkle, of West Virginia, 
addressed the Senate on the merits of the hill. He thought that 
the objects sough! could only he attained through an amendment 
to the Constitution, lie moreover said: 

■• We hear a great deal about the sentence from the Declaration 
of Independence, that 'all men are created equal.' I am willing 
to admit that all men are created equal; hut how are they equal? 
Can a citizen of France, for instance, by going into England, bo 
entitled t<> all the rights of a citizen of that country, or by com- 
into this country acquire all the right- "fan American, unless 
he i- naturalized".' ("an a citizen of our country, by going into 
any other, become entitled to the right- of a citizen there? It' 
not, it may he -aid that they are 1 1 « • t equal. I believe that the 
division of men into separate communities, and their living in sa- 
. and association with their fellows, as they do. are both divine 
institutions, ami that, consequently, the authors of the Declara- 



CIVIL BIGHTS i! ILL. L 9o 

tion of Independence could have meant nothing more than that 
the rights of citizens of any community are equal to the ri. 
of all other citizens of that community. Whenever all commu- 
nities are conducted in accordance with these principles, these. very 
conditions of their prosperous existence, then all mankind will 
be equal, each enjoying his equality in his own community, and 
not till then. Therefore, I assert that there is no right that can 
be exercised by any community of society more perfect than that 
of excluding from citizenship or membership those who arc ob- 
jectionable. If a little society is formed for a benevolent, literary, 
or any other purpose, the members immediately exercise, and 
claim the right to exercise, that right; they determine who shall 
come into their community. We have the right to determine 
who shall be members of our community; and much as has been 
said here about what God has done, and about our obligations 
to the Almighty in reference to this matter. I do not see where 
it comes in that we are bound to receive into our community 
those whose minglings with us might be detrimental to our in- 
terests. I do not believe that a superior race is bound to receive 
among it those of an inferior race, if the mingling of them can 
only tend to the detriment of the mass. I do not mean strict 
miscegenation, but I mean the mingling of two races in society, 
associating from time to time with each other." 

Mr. Cowan, of Pennsylvania, spoke against the bill. He 
said : " The identical question came up in my State — the ques- 
tion whether the negro was a citizen, and whether he possessed 
political power in that State — and it was there decided that he 
was not one of the original corporators, that he was not one of 
the freemen who originally possessed political power, and that 
they had never, by any enactment or by any act of theirs, ad- 
mitted him into a participation of that power, except so far as 
to tax him for the support of Government. And, Mr. President, 
I think it a most important question, and particularly a most 
important question for the Pacific coast, and those States which 
lie upon it, as to whether this door shall now be thrown open to 
the. Asiatic population. If it be, there is an end to republican 
government there, because it is very well ascertained that those 
people have no appreciation of that form of government ; it seems 
to be obnoxious to their very nature; they seem to be incapable 
either of understanding it or of carrying it out; and I can not 



196 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

consent to say that California, or Oregon, or Colorado, or Ne- 
vada, or any of those States, shall be given over to an irruption 
of Chinese. I. for ray part, protest against it. 

"There is a great deal more in this I > 1 1 1 that is exceedingly 
:tionable. It is the first time, I think, in the history of civ- 
ilized legislation, that a judicial officer has been held up and sub- 
ted !■> a criminal punishment for that which may have I 
a conscientious discharge of his duty. It is, I say. the first 
that I know of, in the legislation of modern and civilized nations, 
where a bill of indictment is to take the place of a writ of error, 
and where a mistake is to be tortured into a crime 

"I may state that I have another objection to this bill at the 
present time; and that is, that the people of several States in the 
Union are not represented here, and yet this law i.- mainly to i 
rate upon those people. I think it would be at hast decent, respect- 
ful, if we desire to maintain and support this (Government on the 
broad foundation upon which it was laid — namely, the consent of 
the governed — that we should wait, at any rate, until the people 
upon whom it is to operate have a voice in these hall-." 

Mr. Cowan then proceeded in a somewhat "devious cours 
as it was characterized by another Senator, to make remarks 
upon the subject of reconstruction. Many question.- and remarks 
were interposed by other Senators, giving the discus-ion an ex- 
ceedingly colloquial style. 

At length, Mr. Howard, of Michigan, having obtained 
floor, -poke in favor of the bill. He said: "If I underst 
correctly the interpretation given by several Senators to the con- 
stitutional amendment abolishing slavery, it is this: that the - 
effect of it is to cnt and sever the mere legal ligament by which 
the person and the service of the slave was attached to his m:.- 

and that beyond this particular office the amendment does not j> 
that it can have no effect whatever upon the condition of the em 
cipated black in any other respect, [n other words, they hold that 
it relieves him from his so-called legal obligation to render his 
persona] service to his master without compensation, and there 
leave- him, totally, irretrievably, and without any power on the 
part of ( tongress to look after his well-being from the moment of 
this mockery of emancipation. Sir, such was not the intention of 
the friend- of this amendment at the time of its initiation here, 
ami at the time of it- adoption ; and I undertake to say that it i* 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 107 

not the construction which is given to it by the bar throughout 
the country, and much less by the liberty-loving people. 

"But let us look more closely at this narrow construction. 
Where docs it leave us? We arc told that the amendment 
simply relieves the slave from the obligation to render service to 
his master. What is a slave in contemplation of American law, 
in contemplation of the laws of all the slave States? We know 
full well ; the history of two hundred years teaches us that he 
had no rights, nor nothing which he could call his own. He 
had not the right to become a husband or a father in the eye of 
the law ; he had no child ; he was not at liberty to indulge the 
natural affections of the human heart for children, for wife, or 
even for friend. He owned no property, because the law pro- 
hibited him. He could not take real or personal estate either by 
sale, by grant, or by descent or inheritance. He did not own the 
bread he earned and ate. He stood upon the face of the earth 
completely isolated from the society in which he happened to be. 
He was nothing but a chattel, subject to the will of his owner, 
and unprotected in his rights by the law of the State where he 
happened to live. His rights, did I say? No, sir, I use inap- 
propriate language. He had no rights ; he was an animal ; he 
was property, a chattel. The Almighty, according to the ideas 
of the times, had made him to be property, a chattel, and not .i 
man. 

" Now, sir, it is not denied that this relation of servitude be- 
tween the former negro slave and his master was actually severed 
by this amendment. But the absurd construction now forced upon 
it leaves him without family, without property, without the im- 
plements of husbandry, and even without the right to acquire or 
use any instrumentalities of carrying on the industry of which 
he may be capable; it leaves him without friend or support, and 
even without the clothes to cover his nakedness. He is a waif 
upon the current of time; he has nothing that belongs to him on 
the face of the earth, except solely his naked person. And here, 
in this State, we are called upon to abandon the poor creature 
whom we have emancipated. We are coolly told that he has no 
right beyond this, and we are told that under this amendment the 
power of the State within whose limits he happens to be is not 
at all restrained in respect to him, and thai the State, through its 
Legislature, may at any time declare him to be a vagrant, and 



THE TillirD'-.YLVTII CONGRESS. 

i to jail, or him to uncompensated 



. i( e." 



Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, made a speech, in which he ex- 

I himself as in favor of conferring citizenship upon the 

i ), and yet unable to vote for this bill from the a he 

entertained on "the question of power." He referred to the 

d Scott and other decisions, and - 1 their bearing upon 

legislation now proposed. He said: "I have been 

oxious individually that there should he some definition 
which will rid this class of our people from that objection. If 
the Supreme Court decision is a binding one, and will be followed 
in the future, this law which we are now about to pass will be 

held, of course, to I f no avail, as far as it professes to d 

what citizenship is, because it gives the rights of citiz< oship to all 
persons without distinction of color, and, of course, embrace.-: Af- 
ricans or descendants of Africans." 

He referred to a precedent when Congress had conferred the 
•- of citizenship: "The citizens of Texas, who. of course, 
aliens, it has never been doubted became citizens vi' the 
United States by the annexation of Texas; and that was not 
• by treaty, it was done by legislation. If the power was in 
gress by legislation to make citizens of all the inhabitants of 
State of Texas, why is it not in the power of Cong 
make citizens by legislation of all who arc inhabitants of the 
United States, and who are not citizens? That is what this hill 
5, or what it proposes to do. There are within the United 
States million.- of people who are not citizens, according to th^ 
view of the Supreme Court of the United States. Ought they to 
itizens? 1 think they ought. I think it i- an anomalv that 
says there shall not be the rights of citizenship to any of the in- 
il mts of any State of the I Fnited Staf 
• While they were slaves, it was a very different question ; I 
. . when slavery is terminated, and by terminating it you have 
got rid of the only obstacle in the way of citizi nship, two quest 
: First, whether that fad it-elf does not make them citizi 
fore they were not citizens, because of slavery, an because 

of slavery. Slavery abolished, why are they not just as much cit- 
• they would have been if slavery had never existed? My 
opiuion is that they become citizen-, and 1 hold tl at opinion so 
ugly thai I should consider it unnecessary to l< on the 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 199 

subject ai all, as far as that class is concerned, but for the ruling 
of the Supreme Court to which I have adverted." 

Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, spoke against the propriety and con- 
stitutionality of making all aegroes citizens of the United States. 
He said: "There never was a colony before the Declaration of 
Independence, and there never was a State after the Declaration 
of Independence, up to the time of the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion, so far as I have been able to learn by the slight historical 
examination which I have given to the subject, that ever made or 
attempted to make any other person than a person who belonged 
to one of the nationalities of Europe a citizen. I invoke the chair- 
man of the committee to give me an instance, to point to any his- 
tory or any memento, where a negro, although that negro was born 
in America, was ever made a citizen of either of the States of the 
United States before the adoption of this Constitution. The whole 
material out of which citizens were made previous to the adoption 
of the present Constitution was from the European nationalities, 
from the Caucasian race, if I may use the term. I deny that a 
single citizen was ever made by one of the States out of the negro 
race. I deny that a single citizen was ever made by one of the 
States out of the Mongolian race. I controvert that a single cit- 
zen was ever made by one of the States out of the Chinese race, 
out of the Hindoos, or out of any other race of people but the 
Caucasian race of Europe. 

" I come, then, to this position : that whenever the States, after 
the Declaration of Independence and before the present Constitu- 
tion was adopted, legislated in relation to citizenship, or acted in 
their governments in relation to citizenship, the subject of that 
legislation or that action was the Caucasian race of Europe ; that 
none of the inferior races of any kind were intended to be embraced 
or were embraced by this work of Government in manufacturing 
citizens." 

Mr. Trumbull inquired, "Will the Senator from Kentucky 
allow me to ask him if he means to assert that negroes were not 
citizens of any of these colonies before the adoption of the Con- 
stitution?" 

" I say they were not," said Mr. Davis. 

"Does the Senator wish any authority to show that they were?' 1 
asked Mr. Trumbull. 

"When I get through," said Mr. Davis, "you can answer me." 



200 THE THIirr\--.Yl.YTIl CONGRESS. 

Mr. Trumbull replied: " 1 understood the Senator to challei 
me to produce any proof on that point, and I thoughl he would 
like to have it in his speech. I can asserl to him that by a solemn 
decision of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, they were citi- 
zens before the adoption of the Constitution." 

" If the honorable Senator will allow me," said Mr. Davis. "I 
will set along with my remarks." 

" 1 think you will gel along better," replied Mr. Trumbull, 
'• by noi being exposed in your statements." 

" The honorable Senator is full of conceit, but I have seen less 
conceit with a great deal more brains," said Mr. Davis, who then 
proceeded "to throw up" what he termed "the main buttress for 
the defense of the positions" that he took. 

" My main position," said he, "is, that no native-born person 
of the United States, of any race or color, can be admitted a 
citizen of the United States by Congress under the power 
conferred in relation to naturalization by the Constitution upon 
Congress." 

After reading some authorities, the Senator proceeded to Bay: 
"A grave hallucination in this day is to claim all power; and a 
minor error is that every thing which passion, or interest, or party 
power, or any selfish claims may represent to the judgment or 
imagination of gentlemen who belong to strong parties, to be 
necessary or useful for the good and the domination of such par- 
ties, is seized upon in defiance of a fair construction of language, 
in outrage of the plain meaning of the ( institution. That is not 
the rule by which our ( lonstitution is to he interpreted. It is not 
the rule by which it is to be administered. On the contrary, if 
the able, honorable, and clear-headed Senator from Illinois would 
do himself and his country the justice to place himself in the 
position of the trainers of the Constitution; if he would look all 
around on the circumstances and connections of that day. on the 
purposes of those men noi only in relation to forming a more 
perfect Union, bul also in relation to securing the blessings of life, 
liberty, and property to themselves and their posterity forever; 
if the honorable Senator would construe the Constitution accor- 
ding to the light, the sacred and bright lighl which such sur- 

rounding circumstances would throw upon hi- intellect, it seems 
to me that he would at once abandon this abominable bill, and 

would also ask to withdraw it- twin si-t- ■•• from the other House 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 20 I 

that both might be smothered here together upon the altar of the 
Constitution and of patriotism." 

At the elose of Mr. Davis' speech, much debate and conversa- 
tion ensued among various Senators upon a proposed amendment 
by Mr. Lane, of Kansas, by which Indians " under tribal author- 
ity" should be excluded from the benefits conferred by this bill. 
After this question was disposed of, Mr. Davis was drawn out in 
another speech by what seemed to him to be the necessity of de- 
fending some positions which he had assumed. He said: 

" I still reiterate the position that the negro is not a citizen here 
according to the essential fundamental principles of our system ; 
but whether he be a citizen or not, he is not a foreigner, and no 
man, white or black, or red or mixed, can be made a citizen by 
naturalization unless he is a foreigner." 

Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, interposed : " I wish the Sen- 
ator from Kentucky would tell us what constitutes a citizen under 
the Constitution." 

" A foreigner is not a citizen in the fullest sense of the word at 
all," said Mr. Davis. 

" The Senator is now telling us," said Mr. Clark, " who is not 
a citizen, but my question is, What constitutes a citizen?" 

" I leave that to the exercise of your own ingenuity," replied 
Mr. Davis. 

"That is it," said Mr. Clark. "Washington is dead; Marshall 
is dead; Story is dead; I hoped the Senator from Kentucky 
would have enlightened us. He says a negro is not a citizen, and 
a negro is not a foreigner and can not be made a citizen. He 
says that a person who might be and was a citizen before the 
Constitution, is not a citizen since the Constitution was adopted. 
What right was taken away from him by the Constitution that 
disqualifies him from being a citizen? The free negroes in my 
State, before the Constitution was adopted, were citizens." 

Mr. Davis, having admitted that free negroes were citizens be- 
fore the Constitution in New Hampshire, Mr. Clark said: 

" I desired that the Senator should tell me what, in his opinion, 
constituted a citizen under the Constitution." 

Mr. Davis replied : " I will answer the honorable Senator. We 
sometimes answer a positive question by declaring what a thing is 
not. Now, the honorable Senator asks me what a citizen is. It 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

isier i" answer what it Ls not than what it is, and I sav that 
a negro is not a citizen." 

•• Well, that is a Lucid definition/ 5 said Mr. Clark. 

"Sufficient for the subject," said Mr. Davis. 

"That is begging the question," Mr. ('lark replied. "Iwanted 
to find why a negro was not a citizen, if the gentleman would tell 
me. If he would lay down his definition, I wanted to see whether 
the negro did not comply with it and conform to it, so as to 1"- a 
citizen ; but he insists that he is nut ;i citizen." 

" 1 will answer that question, it' the honorable Senator will per- 
mit me," .-aid Mr. I >a\ i-. "Government is a political partner- 
ship. No persons but the partners who formed the partnership 
are parties to the government. Here is a government formed 
by the white man alone. The negro was excluded from the 
formation of our political partnership; he had nothing to do with 
it; he had nothing to do in its formation." 

•• Es it a close corporation, so that new partners can not be 
added?" asked Mr. Stewart, of Nevada. 

"Yes, sir," -aid Mr. Davis; "it is a close white corporation. 
You may bring all of Europe, hut none of Asia and none of 
Africa into our partnership." 

•• Let us see," -aid Mr. Clark, "how that may be. Take the 
gentleman's own ground that government is a partner-hip. and 
those who did not enter into it ami take an active part in it can 
nol he citizens. 1- a woman a citizen under our Constitution?" 

•• Not t,. vote," said Mr. Davis. 

" I did not ask about voting," -aid Mr. ('kirk. "The gentle- 
man .-aid awhile ago that voting did nol constitute citizenship. 
I want to know if she is a citizen. ( 'an she not sue and he ,-iied, 
contract, and exercise the rights of a citizen'.'" 

"So can a free negro," -aid Mr. Davis. 

"Then, if a free negro can do all that," said Mr. ('lark: "why 
i- he not a citizen '.'" 

"Because hi' is no part of the governing power: thai i< the 
reason," Mi - . 1 >a\ i- replied. 

'• 1 den} that," said Mr. ( 'lark, " because in some of the States 
he is a part of the governing power. The Senator only begs the 
question; it onl} comes hack to this, that a nigger is a nigger." 
j Laughter, j 

"That i-> the wlmle of it," said Mr. Davis. 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 203 

"That La the whole of the gentleman's logic." said Mr. Clark. 
In answer to the statement insisted on by Mr. Davis, "You 
can not make a citizen of any body that is not a foreigner/' Mr. 
Johnson said : 

" That would be an extraordinary condition for the country to 
be in. Here are four million negroes. They are not foreigner.-, 
because they were born in the United States. They have no 
foreign allegiance to renounce, because they owed no foreign alle- 
giance. Their allegiance, whatever it was, was an allegiance to 
the Government of the United States alone. They can not come. 
therefore, under the naturalizing clause; they can not come, of 
course, under the statutes passed in pursuance of the power con- 
ferred upon Congress by that clause; but does it follow from that 
that vou can not make them citizens ; that the Congress of the 
United States, vested with the whole legislative power belonging 
to the Government, having within the limits of the United States 
four million people anxious to become citizens, and when you are 
anxious to make them citizens, have no power to make them citi- 
zens? It seems to me that to state the question is to answer it. 
"The honorable member reads the Constitution as if it said 
that none but white men should become citizens of the United 
States; but it says no such thing, and never intended, in my 
judgment, to say any such thing. If it had designed to exclude 
from all participation in the rights of citizenship certain men on 
account of color, and to have confined, at all times thereafter, 
citizenship to the white race, it is but fair to presume, looking 
to the character of the men who framed the Constitution, that 
they would have put that object beyond all possible doubt ; they 
would have said that no man should be a citizen of the United 
States except a white man, or rather would have negatived the 
riffht of the negro to become a citizen by saving that Congress 
might pass uniform rules upon the subject of the naturalization 
of white immigrants and nobody else; but that they did not do. 
They left it to Congress. Congress, in the exercise of their dis- 
cretion, have thought proper to insert the term 'white' in the 
naturalization act; but they may strike it out, and if it should 
be stricken out, I do not think any lawyer, except my friend 
from Kentucky, would deny that a black man could be natural- 
ized, and by naturalization become a citizen of the United Stat.-. 
"But to go back to the point from which the questions of my 



204 THE TIIIBTIXJ.YTJ/ CONGRESS. 

honorable friend from Kentucky caused me to dig ess, we have 
now within the United States four million colored people, the 
ndants of Africans, whose ancestors were brought into the 
United States as chattels. It was because of that condition that 
they were considered as not entitled to the rights of citizenship. 
We have pul an end to thai condition. We have said that at all 
times hereafter men of any color that nature may think proper to 
impress upon the human frame, shall, if within the United Si 
be free, and not property. Then, we have four million colored 
people who are now a- free as we arc; and the only question is, 
whether, being free, they can not be clothed with the rights of 
citizenship. The honorable member from Kentucky says no, be- 
cause the naturalization clause does not include them. 1 have 
attempted to answer that. lie says no, because the ad - -1 in 
pursuance of that clause does not include them. 1 have answi 
that by saying that that act in that particular may I • *ed." 

On the following day. February 1st, the discussion of the bill 
was resumed by Mr. Morrill, of Maine. He said of the bill: 
•' Ii marks an epoch in the history of this country, and from this 
time forward the legislation takes a fresh and a new departure. 
Sir, to-day is the only hour since this Government began when i: 
was possible to have enacted ii. Such ha- been the situation of 
politics in this country, nay, sir, such have been the provisions 
of the fundamental law of this country, that such legislation 
hitherto has never been possible. There has been no time since 
the foundation of the Government when an American Congress 
could by possibility have enacted such a law, or with propriety 
have made such a declaration. What is this declaration'.' All 
persons born in this country are citizens. That never was so be- 
fore. Although I have >aid that by the fundamental principles 
of American law all persons were entitled to be citizen- by birth, 
we all know that there w a- an exceptional condition in the Gov- 
ernment of the country which provided for an exception to this 
general rule. Here were four million -lave- in this country that 
were not citizens, not citizens by the general policy <•;' the coun- 
try, not citizen- mi account of their condition of Servitude; up to 
this hour they could not have been treated by us as citizen-; 
long as thai provision in the Constitution which recognized this 
ptional condition remained the fundamental law of the coun- 
try, such a declaration a- this would not have been l< gal, could 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 205 

not have been enacted by Congress. I hail it, therefore, as a 
declaration which typifies a grand fundamental change in the 
politics of the country, and which change justifies the declaration 
now. 

" The honorable Senator from Kentucky has vexed himself 
somewhat, I think, with the problem of the naturalization of 
American citizens. As he reads it, only foreigners can be natu- 
ralized, or, in other words, can become citizens; and upon his 
assumption, four million men and women in this country are out- 
side not only of naturalization, not only of citizenship, but outside 
of the possibility of citizenship. Sir, he has forgotten the grand 
principle both of nature and nations, both of law and politics, 
that birth gives citizenship of itself. This is the fundamental 
principle running through all modern politics both in this coun- 
try and in Europe. Every-where, where the principles of law 
have been recognized at all, birth by its inherent energy and 
force gives citizenship. Therefore the founders of this Govern- 
ment made no provision — of course they made none — for the 
naturalization of natural-born citizens. The Constitution speaks 
of 'natural-born,' and speaks of them as citizens in contradistinc- 
tion from those who are alien to us. Therefore, sir, this amend- 
ment, although it is a grand enunciation, although it is a lofty 
and sublime declaration, has no force or efficiency as an enact- 
ment. I hail it and accept it simply as a declaration. 

" The honorable Senator from Kentucky, when he criticises the 
methods of naturalization, and rules out, for want of power, four 
million people, forgets this general process of nations and of 
nature by which every man, by his birth, is entitled to citizen- 
ship, and that upon the general principle that he owes allegiance 
to the country of his birth, and that country owes him protec- 
tion. That is the foundation, as I understand it, of all citizen- 
ship, and these are the essential elements of citizenship: allegiance 
on the one side, and protection on the other." 

In reply to statements made by Mr. Davis, Mr. Morrill re- 
marked : " The Senator from Kentucky denounces as a usurpation 
this measure, and particularly this amendment, this declaration. 
He says it is not within the principles of the Constitution. That 
it is extraordinary I admit. That the measure is not ordinary 
is most clear. There is no parallel, I have already said, for it 
in the history of this country; there is no parallel for it in the 



206 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGEE, 

history of any country. Xn nation, from die foundation of g 
ernraent, has ever undertaken to make a Iegislativ< leclaration 
so broad. Why? Because no nation hitherto has ever cherished 
a liberty so universal. The ancient republics wereall exceptional 
in their liberty; they all had excepted classes, subjected classes, 
which were not the subject of government, and, fcheref re, they 
could ii"! so legislate. Thai it is extraordinary and without a 

■ 

parallel in the history of this Government, or of any other, does 
not affect the character of the declaration itself. 

"The Senator from Kentucky tells us thai the proposition is 
revolutionary, and he thinks that is an objection. I I con- 

cede that it is revolutionary. 1 admit that this sp 
lation is absolutely revolutionary. But arc we not in the midst 
of revolution".' Is the Senator from Kentucky utterly oblivious 
to the grand results of four years of war? Are we not in the 
midst (if a civil and political revolution which has changed the 
fundamental principles of our Government in som< ects? 

Sir, is it no revolution that you have changed the entire - - 
of servitude in this country".' Is it no revolution that now you 
can no longer talk of two systems of civilization in this country".' 
Four short years back, I remember to have listened to eloquent 
speeches in this chamber, in which we were told that there was 
a grand antagonism in our institutions; that there | 'civ- 

ilizations; that there was a civilization based on servitude, and 
that it was antagonistic to the free institutions of the country. 
Where is that'.' Cone forever. That result is a revolution 
grander and sublimer in its consequences than the world has 
witnessed hitherto. 

•• I accept, then, what the Senator from Kentucky thinks - 
obnoxious. We are in the midst of revolution. We have revo- 
lutionized this Constitution of ours to that extent: and every 
substantial change in the fundamental constitution of a country 
i- a revolution. Why, sir, the Constitution even provides for 
revolutionizing itself. Nay, more, it contemplate-- it; contem- 
plate- that in the changing phases of life, civil and political, 
changes in the fundamental law will become necessaryj and is it 

needful tor me to advert to the facts and events of the last four 
or five year- to justify the declaration that revolution here is not 

only radical and thorough, but the result of the events of the last 

foul years? Of course, I mean to contend in all I say that the 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 207 

revolution of which I speak should be peaceful, as on the part 
of the Government here it has been peaceful. It grows out, to 
be sure, of an assault upon our institutions by those; whose pur- 
pose it was to overthrow the Government; but, on the part of the 
Government, it has been peaceful, it has been within the forms 
of the Constitution ; but it is a revolution nevertheless. 

" But the honorable Senator from Kentucky insists that it is a 
usurpation. Not so, sir. Although it is a revolution radical, as 
I contend, it was not a usurpation. It was not a usurpation, 
because it took place within the provisions contemplated in the 
Constitution. More than that, it was a change precisely in har- 
mony with the general principles of the Government. This great 
change which has been wrought in our institutions was in har- 
mony with the fundamental principles of the Government. The 
change which has been made has destroyed that which was ex- 
ceptional in our institutions; and the action of the Government 
in regard to it was provoked by the enemies of the Government. 
The opportunity was afforded, and the change which has been 
wrought was in harmony with the fundamental principles of the 
Government." 

The Senator from Maine opposed the theory that this is a 
Government exclusively for white men. He remarked : " It is 
said that this amendment raises the general question of the an- 
tagonism of the races, which, we are told, is a well-established 
fact. It is said that no rational man, no intelligent legislator or 
statesman, should ever act without reference to that grand his- 
torical fact ; and the Senator from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Cowan,] 
on a former occasion, asserted that this Government, that Amer- 
ican society, had been established here upon the principle of the 
exclusion, as he termed it, of the inferior and the barbarian races. 
Mr. President, I deny that proposition as a historical fact. There 
is nothing more inaccurate. No proposition could possibly be 
made here or anywhere else more inaccurate than to say that 
American society, either civil or political, was formed in the in- 
terest of any race or class. Sir, the history of the country does 
not bear out the statement of the honorable Senator from Penn- 
sylvania. Was not America said to be the land of refuge'/ lias 
it not been, since the earliest period, held up as an asylum for 
the oppressed of all nations "? Hither, allow me to ask, have not 
all the peoples of the nations of the earth come for an asylum 



208 THE TinRTY-XL.XTll CONGEE, 

and for refuge? All the nations of the earth, and all the varie- 
ties of the races of the nations of the earth, have gathered here. 
In the early settlements of the country, the Irish, the French, 
the Swede, the Turk, the Italian, the Moor, and so 1 might 
enumerate all the races, and all the variety of races, came hei 
and it is a fundamental mistake to suppose that settlement was 
begun here in the interests of any class, or condition, or race, 
or interest. This Western Continent was looked to as an asylum 
for the oppressed of all nations and of all races. Hither all 
nations ami all races have come. Bere, sir, upon the -rand 
plane of republican democratic liberty, they have undertaken to 
work out the greal problem of man*.- capacity for .self-government 
without stint or limit." 

Mr. Davis then made another -peech in opposition to the hill. 
When the hour for adjournment had arrived, and Mr. Johnson 
interrupted him with a proposition that "the hill be passed over 
for to-day," Mr. Davis said, "I am wound up, and am obliged 
to run down." The Senate, however, adjourned at a late hour, 
and resumed the hearing of Mr. Davis on the following day. 

In alluding to Mr. Johnson's strictures on hi- assertion that 
Congress had no power to confer the right of citizenship on "the 
native horn negro," Mr. Davis said: "The honorable Senator, 
[Mr. Johnson,] as 1 said the other day, is one of the ablest law- 
yers, and, I believe, the ablest living lawyer in the land. I have 

n gentlemen sometimes so much the lawyer that they had to 
abate some of the state-man [laughter]; and I am not certain, I 
would not say it was .so — 1 will not arrogate to myself to say 
so -hut sometimes a suspicion flashes across my mind that that 

i- precisely the predicament of my honorable friend. 

"I maintain that a negro can not he made a citizen by Con- 
gress; he can not he made a citizen by any naturalization law-. 
because the naturalization laws apply to foreigners alone. No 
man can -hake the legal truth of that position. They apply to 
foreigners alone; ami a negro, an Indian, or any other person 
horn within the United State-, not being a foreigner, can not he 
naturalized; therefore they can not he made citizens hy the uni- 
form rule established by Congress under the Constitution, and 
there is no other rule. Congress has no power, as I -aid before, 
to naturalize a citizen. They could not he made citizen.- hy 
treaty. Jt* they arc made BO at all, it is hy their hirth, and the 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 20$ 

locality of their birth, and the general operation and effect of our 
Constitution. If they are so made citizens, that question is a ju- 
dicial question, not a legislative question. Congress has no power 
in enlarge or extend any of the provisions of the Constitution 
which bear upon the birth or citizenship of negroes or Indians 
born in the United States. 

"If there was any despot in Europe or in the world that 
wanted a master architect in framing and putting together a 
despotic and oppressive law, I would, if my slight voice could 
reach him, by all means say to him, Seek the laboratory of the 
Senator from Illinois. If he has not proved himself an adept 
in this kind of legislation, unconstitutional, unjust, oppressive, 
iniquitous, unwise, impolitic, calculated to keep forever a sever- 
ance of the Union, to exclude from all their constitutional rights, 
privileges, and powers under the Government eleven States of 
the Union — if he has not devised such a measure as that, I have 
not reason enough to comprehend it. 

Mr. Davis closed his speech by saying: "Was it for these 
fruits and these laws that we went into this war? Was it for 
these fruits and these laws and these oppressions that two million 
and a quarter of men were ordered into the field? Was it that 
the American people might enjoy these as the fruits of the tri- 
umphant close of this war, that hundreds of thousands of them 
have been mutilated on the battle-field and by the diseases of the 
camp, and that a debt of four or five thousand million dollars 
has been left upon the country? If these are to be the results 
of the war, better that not a single man had been marshaled in 
the field nor a single star worn by one of our officers. These 
military gentlemen think they have a right to command and 
control every-where. They do it. They think they have a 
right to do it here, and we are sheep in the hands of our shear- 
ers. We are dumb." 

Mr. Trumbull said : " I will occupy a few moments of the at- 
tention of the Senate, after this long harangue of the Senator 
from Kentucky, which he closed by declaring that we are dumb 
in the presence of military power. If he has satisfied the Senate 
that he is dumb, I presume he has satisfied the Senate of all the 
other positions he has taken ; and the others are about as absurd 
as that declaration. He denounces this bill as ' outrageous/ ' most 
14 



no Tin-: T////m-.\v.\-r// congress. 

mom ' 'abominable/ 'oppressive, 5 'iniquitous,' 'unconstitu- 

tional,' ' void.' 

" No • . what i- this bill that is obnoxious to such terrible epi- 
thets? It i- a bill providing that all people shall have equal 
rights. 1- in>t thai abominable"? I- not that iniquitous? I- Dot 
that monstrous? [snot that terrible on white men ? [Laughl 
When was such legislation as this ever thought of l<>r white nun".' 

"Sir, this Will applies to white men as well as black men. It 
declares that all men in the United State- shall be entitled to the 
same civil rights, the right to the fruit of their own labor, the 
right to make contracts, the right to buy and sell, and enjoy lib- 
erty and happiness; and that is abominable and iniquitous and 
unconstitutional! Could any thing be more monstrous or more 
abominable than for a member of the Senate- to rise in his place 
and denounce with such epithets as these a bill, the only object 
of which i< to secure equal rights to all the citizens of the coun- 
try — a hill that protects a white man just as much as a black 
man? With what consistency and with what face can a Senator 
in his place here say to the Senate and the country, that this i- a 
hill for the benefit of the black men exclusively, when there is 
no such distinction in it, and when the very object of the bill is 
to break down all discrimination between black men and white 
men '.' " 

Mr. Guthrie, of Kentucky, said: "My doctrine i- that slavery 
ts no longer in this country; that it i- impossible to exist in 
the face of that provision; and with slavery tell the laws of all 
the State- providing for slavery, every one of them. 1 do nut 
see what benefit can arise from repealing them by this bill, be- 
cause, if they are not repealed by the Constitution as amended, 
this bill could no- repeal them. 1 hope that all the State- in 
which slavery formerly existed will accept that constitutional pro- 
vision in good faith. I myself accepl it in good faith. Believing 
that all the laws authorizing slavery have fallen, I have advised 
the people of Kentucky, and 1 would advise :ill the State-, to put 
Vfricans upon the same footing that the white- are in rela- 
tion to civil rights. They have all the rights that were formerly 

accorded to tin' free colored population in all the States just as 
fully this day a- they will have after this bill ha- passed, and 
they will continue to have them. 
•■ Now, to the State- belong the government of their own popu- 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. \ ! I 

lation, and tliose within their borders, upon all subjects. We, in 
Kentucky, prescribe punishment for those who violate the laws; 
we prescribe it for the white population; we prescribe it for the 
free African population, and we prescribe it for the slave popula- 
tion. All the laws prescribing punishment for slaves fell with 
slavery, and they were subject afterward only to the penal:' - 
which were inflicted upon the free colored population, they then 
being five. Slaves, for many offenses, were punished far less than 
the free colored people. No slave was sent to the penitentiary 
and punished for stealing, or any thing of that kind, whereas a 
free person was. But all these States will now, of course, remodel 
their laws upon the subject of offenses. I would advise that there 
should be but one code for all persons, black as well as white ; 
that there shall be one general rule for the punishment of crime 
in the different States. But, sir, the States must have time to act 
on the subject; and yet we are here preparing laAvs and penalties, 
and proposing to carry them into execution by military authority, 
before the States have had time to legislate, and even before some 
of their Legislatures have had time to convene. 

"Kentucky has had her share of talking here, and, sir, .-he 
has had her share of suffering during the war. At one time she 
was invaded by three armies of the rebellion; all but seven or 
eight counties of the State, at one time, were occupied by its ar- 
mies, and her whole territory devastated by guerrillas. We have 
suffered in this war. We have borne it as best we could. We 
feel it intensely that now, at the end of the war, we should be 
subjected to a military despotism, our houses liable to be entered 
at any time when our families are at rest, by military men who 
can arrest and send to pri.son without warrant, and we are obliged 
to go, and we are obliged to pay any fines they may impose. I 
do not believe that you will lose any thing if you pause before 
passing such legislation as this, and establishing these military 
despotisms, for we do not know where they are to end." 

Mr. Hendricks, of Indiana, had proposed to strike out the last 
clause of the bill, which provided that " such part of the land 
and naval forces of the United States, or of the militia," as should 
be necessary, might be employed to prevent the violation, and en- 
force the due execution of this act. The Senator from Indiana 
opposed the bill on the ground that it employed the machinery 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONG, 

Fugitive Slave Law, and that it was to ! forced by the 
military authority of the United States. He said: 

"This liill is a wasp; its sting is in its tail. Sir, what is this 
bill? It provides, in the firsl place, that the civil righl if all 
men, without regard to color, shall be equal; and. in the ' 

place, that if any man shall violate that principle by his conduct, 
he shall be responsible to the court ; that he may b< pn 
criminally and punished for the crime, or he may be sued in a 
civil action and damages recovered by the part) wr< nged. I- not 
that broad enough? Do Senators want to ir" further than this? 
To recognize the civil rights of the colored people as qua) to the 
civil rights of the white people, I understand to be as for as Sen- 
ators desire to go; in the language of the Senator from M 
chusetts [Mr. Sumner], to place all men upon an equality before 
the law: ami that is proposed in regard to their civil rights." 

In reference to the reenactmenl of the odious features of the 
Fugitive Slave Law in this hill. Mr. Hendricks said : " I recol- 
how the blood of the people was made to run cold within 
them when it was said that the white man was required to run 
after the fugitive .-lave; that the law of L850 made you and me, 
my brother Senator-;, slave-catchers; that th< mnitatus 

could he called to execute a writ of the law, for the recovery of 
a runaway slave, under the provisions of the Constitution of the 
United States; and the whole country was agitated because of it. 
Now slavery is gone; the negro is to he established upon a plat- 
form of civil equality with the white man. That is the proposi- 
tion. But we do not stop there; we an' to n • a law that 
nearly all of you -aid was wicked and wrong; and for what pur- 
pose? Not to pursue the negro any longer; not for the purpose 
of catching him; not for the purpose of catching the great crimi- 
nals of the land; luit for the purpose of placing it in the power 
of any deputy marshal in any county of the country to call upon 
yon and me. and all the body of the people, to pursue some white 
man who is running for his liberty, because - »i negro has 
charged him with denying to him equal civil rights with the 
white man. 1 thought, sir, that that frame-work was enough; 1 
thought, when yon placed under the command of the marshal, in 
every county of the land, all the body '>t' the people, and put 
every one upon the track of the fleeing white man, that that was 
enough ; but it is not. For the purpose of the enforcement of 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 

this law, the President is authorized to appoint somebody who is 
to have the command of the military and naval forces of the 
United States — for what purpose? To prevent a violation of this 
law, and to execute it. 

"You clothe the marshals under this bill with all the powers 
that were given to the marshals under the Fugitive Slave Law. 
That was regarded as too arbitrary in its provisions, and you re- 
pealed it. You said it should not stand upon the statute-book 
any longer; that no man, white or black, should be pursued 
under the provisions of* that law. Now, you reenact it, and you 
claim it as a merit and an ornament to the legislation of the 
country ; and you add an army of officers and clothe them with 
the power to call upon any body and every body to pursue the 
running white man. That is not enough, but you must have the 
military to be called in, at the pleasure of whom? Such a person 
as the President may authorize to call out the military forces. 
Where it shall be, and to whom this power shall be given, we 
do not know. 1 ' 

Mr. Lane, of Indiana, replied to the argument of his colleague. 
He said : " It is true that many of the provisions of this bill, 
changed in their purpose and object, are almost identical with the 
provisions of the Fugitive Slave Law, and they are denounced by 
my colleague in their present application; but I have not heard 
any denunciation from my colleague, or from any of those associated 
with him, of the provisions of that Fugitive Slave Law which was 
enacted in the interest of slavery, and for purposes of oppression, 
and which was an unworthy, cowardly, disgraceful concession to 
Southern opinion by Northern politicians. I have suffered no 
suitable opportunity to escape me to denounce the monstrous char- 
acter of that Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. All these provisions 
were odious and disgraceful in my opinion, when applied in the 
interest of slavery, when the object was to strike down the rights 
of man. But here the purpose; is changed. These provisions are 
in the interest of freemen and of freedom, and what was odious in 
the one case becomes highly meritorious in the other. It is an 
instance of poetic justice and of apt retribution that God has caused 
the wrath of man to praise Him. I stand by every provision of 
this bill, drawn as it is from that most iniquitious fountain, the 
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. 

"Then my colleague asks, Why do you invoke the power of the 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 

military to enforce these laws? Ami he says that constables, and 
sheriffs, and marshals, when they have process to serve, bav< a 
right to call upon the posse comitatus, the body of the whole 
I iple, i" <:.i : heir writs. Here is a justice of the peace in 

- uli Carolina or Georgia, or a county cou a circuit court, 
■ .! is called upon to execute tins law. They appoint their own 

rshal, their deputy marshal, or their constable, and he calls 
upon the possi comitatus. Neither the judge, nor the jury, nor 
officer, as we believe, is willing to execute the law. He may 
call upon the people, the body of the whole people, a body of 
rebels steeped in treason and rebellion to their lips, and they 
i execute it; and the gentleman seems wonderfully astonished 
that we should call upon the military power. We should not 
1 gislate at all if we believed the State court- could or would 
honestly carry oul the provisions of the constitutional amendment ; 
but because we believe they will not do that, we give the Federal 
officers jurisdiction. 

• Bui what harm is to result from if.' Who i- to he oppress 
What white man fleeing, in the language of my colleague, pur- 

- ed by these harpies of the law. is in danger of having his rights 

- icken down? What doe- the hill provide? Jt places all men 
upon an equality, and unless the white man violate- the law, he 
i- in no danger. It take- no rights from any white man. It 
simply places others on the same platform upon which he stands; 
and if he would invoke the power of local prejudice to override 
the law.- of the country, this i- no < rovernment unless the military 
may be called in to enforce the order of the civil court- and obe- 
dience to the laws of the country." 

Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, said, in answer to some objec- 
tions to the hill urged by Mr. Guthrie: "The Senator tell- us 

* 

that the emancipated men ought to have their civil rights, that 
the black codes tell with slavery; hut the Senator forgets that at 
-i sis of the reorganized State- in their new Legislatures have 
passed laws wholly incompatible with the freedom of these freed- 
nien ; ami so atrocious are the provisions "l' these law-, and -• 
i rsistently are they carried into effect h\ the local authority . 
that General Thomas, in Mississippi, General Swayne, in Ala- 
bama, General Sickles, in South Carolina, and General Terry, in 
Virginia, have issued positive order-, forbidding the execution of 
the black law- that have jusl been passed. 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 215 

"So unjust, so wk-kcd, so incompatible are these new black 
laws of tlic rebel States, made in defiance of the expressed will of 
the nation, that Lieutenant-general Grant lias been forced to is- 
sue that order, which sets aside the black laws of all these rebell- 
ious States against the freedmen, and allows no law to be en- 
forced against them that is not enforced equally against white men. 
This order, issued by General Grant, will be respected, obeyed, 
and enforced in the rebel States with the military power of the 
nation. Southern legislators and people must learn, if they are 
compelled to learn by the bayonets of the Army of the United 
States, that the civil rights of the freedmen must be and shall be 
respected; that these freedmen are as free as their late masters'; 
thai they shall live under the same laws, be tried for their viola- 
tion in the same manner, and if found guilty, punished in the 
same manner and degree. 

" This measure is called for, because these reconstructed Legis- 
latures, in defiance of the rights of the freedmen, and the will of 
the nation, embodied in the amendment to the Constitution, have 
enacted laws nearly as iniquitous as the old slave codes that dark- 
ened the legislation of other days. The needs of more than four 
million colored men imperatively eall for its enactment. The 
Constitution authorizes and the national will demands it. By a 
series of legislative acts, by executive proclamations, by military 
orders, and by the adoption of the amendment to the Constitution 
by the people of the United States, the gigantic system of human 
slavery that darkened the land, controlled the policy, and swayed 
the destinies of the republic has forever perished. Step by step 
we have marched right on from one victory to another, with the 
music of broken fetters ringing in our ears. None of the series 
of acts in this beneficent legislation of Congress, none of the 
proclamations of the Executive, none of these military orders, 
protecting rights secured by law, will ever be revoked or amended 
by the voice of the American people. There Ls now 

"'No slave beneath that starry flag, 
The cmlilein of the free.' 

"By the will of the nation freedom and free institutions for alb 
chains and fetters for none, are forever incorporated in the fun- 
damental law of regenerated and united America. Slave codes 
and auction blocks, chains and fetters and blood-hounds, are things 



216 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGEES 

of the past, and the chattel stands forth a man, with the rights 
and the powers of the freemen. For the better security of these 
oew-bom <*i\il rights we are oow about to pass the greatest and 
the grandest act in this series of acts that have emancipated a 
race and disinthralled a nation. It will pass, it will go upon the 
statute-book of the republic by the voice of the American people, 
and there it will remain. From the verdict of Congress in favor 
of this great measure, no appeal will ever 1»- entertained b) the 
people of tin- I Fnited States." 

Mr. Cowan spoke again, and denouribed the section of the hill 
which provided for it- enforcement by the military. He said: 
"There it is; words can not make it plainer; reason can not eluci- 
date it; no language can strengthen it or weaken it, one way or 
the other. There is the question whether a military man. edu- 
cated in a military school, accustomed to supreme command, un- 
accustomed to the administration of civil law among a tree people, 
1- to be intrusted with these appellate jurisdiction over the courts 
of the country; whether he can in any way, whether he ought in 
any way, to hi' intrusted with such a power. I, for my part, will 
never agree to it ; and 1 should feel myself recreant to every duty 
that T owed to myself, to my country, to my country's history, 
and I may say to the race which has been for hundreds and 
thousands of years endeavoring to attain to something like con- 
stitutional liberty, if I did not resist tin- and all similar 
projects." 

Mi-. Trumbull answered some objections to the hill. "The 
Senator from Indiana [Mr. Hendricks] objects to the hill because 
he says that the same provisions which were enacted in the old 
Fugitive Slave Law arc incorporated into this, ami that it has 
i heralded to the country that it was a great achievement to 
do this; and he insists that if those provisions of law were 
odious and wicked and wrong which provided for punishing 
men lor aiding the slave to .-cape, therefore they must he wicked 
and wrong now when they are employed tin- the punishing a 
man who undertakes to put a person into slavery. Sir, that 
doe- not follow at all. A law may he iniquitous and unjust and 
wrong which undertakes to punish another for doing an innocent 
act. which would he righteous and just and proper to punish ;t 

man for doing a wicked act. We have upon our statute-1 ks a 

law punishing a man who commits murder, because die commis- 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL J 17 

sion of murder is a high crime, and the party who does it for- 
feits his right to live; but would it be just to apply the law 
which punishes a person for committing murder to an innocent 
person who had killed another accidentally, without malice? That 
is the difference. It is the difference between right and wrong, 
between good and evil. True, the features of the Fugitive Slave 
Law were abominable when they were used for the purpose of 
punishing, not negroes, as the Senator from Indiana says, but 
white men. The Fugitive Slave Law was enacted for the pur- 
pose of punishing white men who aided to give the natural gift 
of liberty to those who were enslaved. Now, sir, we propose to 
use the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Law for the purpose of 
punishing those who deny freedom, not those who seek to aid 
persons to escape to freedom. The difference was too clearly 
pointed out by the colleague of the Senator [Mr. Lane] to justify 
me in taking further time in alluding to it. 

"But the Senator objects to this bill because it authorizes the 
calling in of the military; and he asserts that it is the only law 
in which the military is brought in to enforce it. The Senator 
from Pennsylvania [Mr. Cowan] follows this up with a half 
hour's speech, denouncing this law as obnoxious to the. objection 
that it is a military law, that it is taking the trial of persons for 
offenses out of the hands of the courts and placing them under 
the military — a monstrous proposition, he says. Is that so? 
What is the law? 

"It is a court bill; it is to be executed through the courts, 
and in no other way. But does the Senator mean to say it is a 
military bill because the military may be called in, in aid of the 
execution of the law through the courts ? Does the Senator from 
Pennsylvania — I should like his attention, and that of the Sena- 
tor from Indiana, too — deny the authority to call in the military 
in aid of the execution of the law through the courts? 

"Let me read a clause from the Constitution, which seems to 
have been forgotten by the Senator from Pennsylvania and the 
Senator from Indiana. The Senator from Pennsylvania, who has 
denounced this law, has been living under just such a law for 
thirty years, and it seems never found it out. What says the 
Constitution? 'Congress shall have power to provide for calling 
forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union.' 

"Then, can not the militia prevent persons from violating the 



818 THE TIIIE 'D'-.XI.V Til COJ\ G R ESS. 

law? They arc authorized by the Constitution to be called our 
for the purpose of executing the law, and here we have a law 
that is i" be carried into execution, and when you find pers< 
combined together to prevent its i si sution, you can not do any 
thing with them! Suppose that th tmty authorities in Mus- 
cogee County, Georgia, combine together to deny civil rights to 
i i i v.:\ colored man in that county. For the purpose of pre- 
venting it. before they have done any act, I say the militia may 
be called out to prevent them from committing an act. We are 
no! required to wait until the act is committed before any thing 
can be done. That was the doctrine which led to this rebellion, 
that we had do authority to do any thing till the conflict of arms 
came. I believed then, in 1860, that we had authority; and if 
it had been properly exercised, if the men who were threateni a 
rebellion, who wen- in this chamber defying the authority of the 
Government, had been arrested for treason— of which, in my 
judgment, by setting on fool armed expeditions against the coun- 
try, they were guilty ; — and if they had been tried and punished 
and executed for the crime. I doubt whether this great rebellion 
would ever have taken place. 

"There is another statute to which I beg leave to call the 
attention'of the Senator from Pennsylvania, and under which 
he has lived for thirty years without ever having known it ; 
and his rights have been fully protected. I wish to call atten- 
tion to a section from which the tenth section of the bill under 
consideration, at which the Senator from Indiana is so horrified, 
is copied word for word, and letter for letter. The act of March 
10, 1836, f supplementary to an act entitled "An ad in addition 
to the act for the punishment of certain crimes against the 
United States, and to repeal the acts therein mentioned.*' ap- 
proved 20th of April. IMS,' contains the very section that is in 
this bill, word for word. It did not horrify the country; it did 
not destroy all the liberties of the people; it did aoi consolidate 
all the powers of the Constitution in the Federal Government; 
it did not overthrow the courts, and it has existed now for 
thirty years! " 

The question was first taken on the amendment offered by Mr. 
Hendricks, to strike oul the tenth section of the bill. The vote 
resulted yea-, twelve; nay-, thirty-four. 

\i this stage of the proceedings, Mr. Saulsbury moved to 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 219 

amend the bill by adding in the first section of the bill after the 
words "civil rights," the words, "except the right to vote in 
the States." Ee desired that if the Senate did not wish to con- 
fer the right of suffrage by this bill, they should say so. The 
question being taken on Mr. Saulsbury's amendment, the vote 
resulted .-even in the affirmative and thirty-nine in the negative. 
The vote was finally taken on the passage of the bill, which 
resulted thirty-three in the affirmative and twelve in the nega- 
tive. The following Senators voted in favor of the bill: 

Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, Connor, Cragin, Dixon, Fes- 
senden, Foot, Foster, Harris, Henderson, Howard, Howe, Kirkwood, Benry 
S. Lane, James H. Lane, Morgan, Morrill, Nye, Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, 
Sherman, Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, Trumbull, Wade, Willey, Williams, 
Wilson, and Yates — 33. 

The following voted against the bill, namely : 

Messrs. Buckalew, Cowan, Davis, Guthrie, Hendricks, McDougall, Nes- 
mith, Norton, Kiddle, Saulsbury, Stockton, and Van Winkle— 12. 

Five Senators were absent, to wit : 
Messrs. Creswell, Doolittle, Grimes, Johnson, and Wright — 5. 



THE THIRTY-NIjYTR CONGRESS. 



CHAPTER X. 

Till: CIVIL BIGHTS BILL IN" XHE HOUSE OF RE] ■ r ATI VI - 

The Bill referred ro the Judiciary Committee and reported back- 
Speech hv the Chairman of the Committee — Mr. Rogers — M ok — 
Mr. Thayer Mr. Eldridge — Mr. Thornton — Mr. Windom— Mr. Shel- 

LABARGER Mr BrOOMALL— Mr. RAYMOND — Ml!. DELANO — SJR. KERR — 

Amendment by Mr. Bingham — His Speech — Reply by his k — 

Disoussion closed by Mr. VVilson — Yeas and Nays on the 

the Bill — Mr. Le Blond's proposed title — Amendments p hhj House 

ai l EPTED BY THE Sen 

0.\ the 5th of February, four days after the passage of the Civil 
Rights Bill in the Senate 3 it came before the House of Repre- 
sentatives, and having been read a first and second time, was 
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. On the Lst of March, 
the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. \\ ilson, brought 
the bill again before the House, proposing some verbal amend- 
ments which were adopted. He then made a motion to recommit 
the bill, pending which, he made a speech on the merits of the 
measure. He referred to many definitions, judicial decisions, 
opinions, and precedents, under which negroes were entitled to 
the rights of American citizenship. In reference to the results 
of lii- researches, he said : 

" Precedents, hntli judicial and legislative, are found in sharp 
conflict concerning them. The line which divides these prece- 
dents is generally found to be the same which separates the early 
from the later days of the republic. The further the Govern- 
ment drifted from the old moorings of equalityaud human rights, 
the more numerous became judicial and legislative utterances in 
conflict with some of the leading features of this bill." 

1 [e argued that the section of 1 1 1 « - hill pro^ iding for it.- enforce- 
ment l>v the military arm was uecessary, in order "'to fortify the 
declaratory portions of this hill with such sanctions as will rentier 
Pective." In conclusion In 1 -aid : 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. '.'/ 

"Can not protection be rendered to the citizen in the mode 
prescribed by the measure we now have under consideration? 
If not, a perpetual state of constructive war would be a great 
blessing to very many American citizens. If a suspension of 
martial law and :i restoration of the ordinary forms of civil law 
are to result in a subjection of our people to the outrages under 
the operation of State laws and municipal ordinances which these 
orders now prevent, then it were better to continue the present 
state of affairs forever. But such is not the ease; we may pro- 
vide by law for the same ample protection through the civil 
courts that now depends on the orders of our military command- 
ers ; and I will never consent to any other construction of our 
Constitution, for that would be the elevation of the military above 
the civil power. 

" Before our Constitution was formed, the great fundamental 
riffhts which I have mentioned belonged to every person who 
became a member of our great national family. No one surren- 
dered a jot or tittle of these rights by consenting to the formation 
of the Government. The entire machinery of Government, as 
organized by the Constitution, was designed, among other things, 
to secure a more perfect enjoyment of these rights. A legislative 
department was created, that laws necessary and proper to this 
end might be enacted; a judicial department was erected to 
expound and administer the laws ; an executive department was 
formed for the purpose of enforcing and seeing to the execution 
of these laws; and these several departments of Government 
possess the power to enact, administer, and enforce the laws 
'necessarv and proper' to secure those rights which existed ante- 
rior to the ordination of the Constitution. Any other view of the 
powers of this Government dwarfs it, and renders it a failure in 
its most important office. 

"Upon this broad principle I rest my justification of this bill. 
I assert that we possess the power to do those things which gov- 
ernments are organized to do; that we may protect a citizen of 
the United States against a violation of his rights by the law of 
a single State; that by our laws and our courts we may inter- 
vene to maintain the proud character of American citizenship; 
that this power permeates our whole system, is a part of it, with- 
out which the States can run riot over every fundamental right 
belonging to citizens of the United States; that the right to 



TH /•: THIIl T 1 '- A 7. V 77/ COJ\ 'G R ESS. 

exercise this power depends upon no express delegation, but runs 
with the rights it i- designed to protect ; that we possess the same 
latitude in respecl to the selection of means through which to ex- 
ercise this power that belongs to us when a power pon ex- 
press delegation; and that the decisions which support the latter 
maintain the formerj And here, sir, I leave the bill to the con- 
sideration of the I [ouse." 

Mr. Rogers, of New Jersey, followed with an argumi a inst 
the bill, because it interfered with "States' Rights." Under its 
provisions, Congress would "enter the domain of a State and in- 
terfere with its internal police, statutes, and domestic regulations." 
1 1" s:iid : 

"This act of legislation would destroy the foundations of the 
Government as they were laid and established by our fathers, 
who reserved to the State- certain privileges and immunities 
which ought sacredly to he preserved to them. 

" it' you had attempted to do it in the day- of those who were 
living at the time the Constitution was made, after the birth of 
that uoble instrument, the spirit of the heroes of the Revolution and 
the ghosts of the departed who laid down their lives in defense 
of the liberty of this country and of the rights of the States, 
would have come forth as witnesses against the deadly infliction, 
and the destruction of the fundamental principle of the sover- 
eignty of the States in violation of the Constitution, and the 
breaking down of the ties that hind the States, and the violation 
of the rights and liberties of the white men and white women of 
America. 

"If you pass this hill, you will allow the negroes of this coun- 
try to compete for the high office of President of the United 
State-. Because if they are citizens at all, they come within the 
meaning and letter of the Constitution of the United States, 
which allow- all natural-hom citizens to become candidates for 
the Presidency, and to exercise the duties of that office it" elected. 

" I am afraid of degrading this Government ; 1 am afraid of 
danger to constitutional liberty ; 1 am alarmed at the stupendous 
stride- which this Congress is trying to initiate; and I appeal 
in behalf of my country, in behalf of those that arc to come after 
u-, of generations yet unborn, as well as those now living, that 
conservative men on the other side should rally to the standard 
of sovereign and independent States, and blot out this idea which 



CIVIL EIGHTS BILL. 223 

is inculcating itself here, that all the powers of the States must 
be taken away, and the power of the Czar of Russia or the Em- 
peror of France must be lodged in the Federal Government. 

"J ask von to stand by the law of the country, and to regulate 
these Federal and State systems upon the grand principles upon 
which they were intended to be regulated, that we may hand 
down to those who are to come after us this bright jewel of civil 
liberty unimpaired; and I say that the Congress or the men who 
will strip the people of these rights will be handed down to per- 
dition for allowing this bright and beautiful heritage of civil lib- 
erty embodied in the powers and sovereign jurisdiction of the 
States to pass away from us. 

"I am willing to trust brave men — men who have shown as 
much bravery as those who were engaged on battle-fields against 
the armed legions of the North ; because I believe that even when 
they were fighting against the flag of their country, the great 
mass of those people were moved by high and conscientious con- 
victions of duty. And in the spirit of Christianity, in the spirit 
which Jesus Christ exercised when he gave up his own life as 
a propitiation for a fallen world, I would say to those Southern 
men, Come here in the Halls of Congress, and participate with us 
in passing laws which, if constitutionally carried into effect, will 
control the interests and destinies of four millions people, mostly 
living within the limits of your States." 

Mr. Cook, of Illinois, replied : " Mr. Speaker, in listening to 
the very eloquent remarks of the gentleman from New Jersey 
[Mr. Rogers], I have been astonished to find that in his appre- 
hension this bill is designed to deprive somebody, in some State 
of this Union, of some right which he has heretofore enjoyed. I 
am onlv sorry that he was not specific enough ; that he did not inform 
us what rights are to be taken away. He has denounced this bill 
as dangerous to libertv, as calculated in its tendency at least to 
destroy the liberties of this country. I have examined this bill 
with some care, and, so far as I have been able to understand it, 
I have found nothing in any provision of it which tends in any 
way to take from any man, white or black, a single right he en- 
joys under the Constitution and laws of the United States. 

"I would have been glad if he would have told us in what 
manner the white men of this country would have been placed in 
a worse condition than they are now, if this becomes the law. 



THE THIRTY-XIXTR CONi 

This genera] denunciation and general assault of the bill, without 
pointing ou1 one single thing which i- t<> deprive one single man 
of any right he enjoys under the Government, seems t<> me not 
entitled t<> much weight. 

•• When those rights which are enumerated in this hill are de- 
nied to any class <>f men, <>n account "I' race or color, when they 
are subject t'> :i system of vagrant laws which sells them u 

very or involuntary servitude, which operates upon them as 
upon ii" other part of the community, they are not secured in the 
rights of freedom. It' a man can be sold, the man i- a -lave. If 
he is nominally freed by the amendment to the Constitution, he 
ha- nothing in the world he can call his own: he ha- simply the 
labor of his hands on which he can depend. Any combination 
of men in his neighborhood can prevent him from having any 
chance to support himself by his labor. They can pass a law that 
a man not supporting himself by labor shall he denied a vagrant, 
and that a vagrant shall he sold, [f this is the freedom we gave 
the men who have been fighting for us and in defense of* the Gov- 
ernment, if this i- all we have secured them, the President had 
far better never have issued the Proclamation of Emancipation, 
and the country had far better never have adopted the great or- 
dinance of fre< dom. 

"Doe- any man in this House believe that the- people can he 
safely left in these States without the aid of Federal Legislation or 
military power'.' Doc- any one believe that their freedom can be 
preserved without this aid".' If any man does so believe, he is 
strangely blind to the history of the past year; strangely blind to 
the enactments passed by Legislatures touching these freedmen. 
And 1 shuddered a- I heard the honorable gentleman from New 
Jersey [Mr. Rogers] claiming that he was speaking and thinking 
in the spirit which animated the Savior of mankind when he 
made atonement for our race; that it was in that spirit he was 
acting when he was striving to have these people left utterly de- 
fenseless in the hands of men who were proving, day by day, 
month l>v month, that they de-ire to oppress them, tor they had 
been nude free against their consent. Every act of legislation, 
every expression of opinion on their part, proves that these peo- 
ple would be again enslaved it' they were not protected by the 
military arm of the Federal Government; without that they 
would lie slaves to-day. And 1 submit, with all deference, that 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 

it is any thing but the spirit which the gentleman claims to have 
exercised, which prompted the argument he has made. 

"For myself, I trust that this bill will be passed, because I 
consider it the most appropriate means to secure the end desired, 
and that these people will be protected. I trust that we will say 
to them, Because upon our call you aided us to suppress ll : 
hellion, because the honor and faith of the nation were pi sdged 
for your protection, we will maintain your freedom, and redeem 
that pledge." 

On the following day, the House of Representatives resumed 
the consideration of this bill. A speech was made by Mr. Thayer, 
of Pennsylvania. He said : 

"This bill is the just sequel to, and the proper completion of, 
that great measure of national redress which opened the dungeon- 
doors of four million human beings. Without this, in my judg- 
ment, that great act of justice will be paralyzed and made useless. 
With this, it will have practical effect, life, vigor, and enforce- 
ment. It has been the fashion of gentlemen, holding a certain 
set of opinions, in this House to characterize that great measure 
to which I have referred as a revolutionary measure. 

" Sir, it was a revolutionary measure. It was one of the great- 
est, one of the most humane, one of the most beneficial revolu- 
tions which ever characterized the history of a free State; but it 
was a revolution which, though initiated by the conflict of arms 
and rendered necessary as a measure of war against the public 
enemy, was accomplished within and under the provisions of the 
Constitution of the United States. It was a revolution for the 
relief of human nature, a revolution which gave life, liberty, and 
hope to millions whose condition, until then, appeared to be one 
of hopeless despair. It was a revolution of which no freeman 
need be ashamed, of which every man who assisted in it will, I 
am sure, in the future be proud, and which will illumine with a 
great glory the history of this country. 

"There is nothing in this bill in respect to the employment of 
military force that is not already in the Constitution of the United 
States. The power here conferred is expressly given by that in- 
strument, and has been exercised upon the most stupendous scale 
in the suppression of the rebellion. What is this bill? I hope 
gentlemen, even on the opposite side of the House, will not suf- 
fer their minds to be influenced by any such vague, loose, and 
15 



THE TfflRTY-.XLYTH CONGRESS. 

groundless denunciations as these which haw proceeded from the 
gentleman from New Jersey. The bill, after extending these 
fundamental immunities of citizenshi]\to all classes of people in the 
United States, -imply provides means for the enforcement of 
these rights and immunities. ETow? No! by military force, 
not through the instrumentality of military commanders, not 
through any military machinery whatever, l>ut through the quiet, 
ified, firm, and constitutional forms of judicial procedure. 
The bill seeks to enforce these rights in the same manner and 
with the same sanctions under and by which other laws of the 
United States arc enforced. It imposes duties upon the judicial 
tribunals of the country which require the enforcement of these 
rights. It provides for the administration of laws to protect I 
rights. It provides for the execution of laws to enforce them. 
[s there any thing appalling in that? I- that a military despot- 
ism? Sir. it is a strange abuse of language to say that a mili- 
tary despotism is established by wholesome and equal laws. Yei 
tin' gentleman declaimed by tin- hour, in vague ami idle terms, 
against this hill, which has nut a single offensive, oppressive, 
unjust, unusual, or tyrannical feature in it. These civil rights 
and immunities which are to be secured, ami which no man can 
conscientiously say ought to be denied, arc to he enforced thn 
the ordinary instrumentalities of courts of justice. 

•■ While engaged in this great work of restoration, it concerns 
our honor that we forget not those who are unable to help them- 
selves; who, whatever may have been the misery and wretched- 

- of their former condition, were on our side in the great 
struggle which ha- closed, and whose rights we can tot disregard 
or neglect without violating the most sacred obligations of duty 
and of honor. To us they look tin- protection against the wr< 
with which they are threatened. To us alone can they appeal in 
their helplessness for Buccor and defense. To us they hold out 
to-day their supplicating hands, asking tor protection tor them- 
selves and their posterity. We can not disregard this appeal, 
and -tand acquitted before the country and the world of basely 
abandoning to a miserable fate those who have a right to demand 
the protection of your flag and the immunities guaranteed to 
every freeman by your Constitution." 

Mi-. Eldridge, of Wisconsin, opposed the hill, in a speech of 

which tin' following arc the concluding remark-: 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. $27 

" I had hoped that this subject would be allowed to rest. Gen- 
tlemen refer us to individual cases of wrong perpetrated upon the 
freedmen of the South as an argument why we should extend the 
Federal authority into the different States to control the action of 
the citizens thereof. But, I ask, has not the South submitted to 
the altered state of things there, to the late amendment of ( 
Constitution, to the loss of their slave property, with a cheerful- 
ness and grace that we did not expect? Have they not acqui- 
esced more willingly than Ave dared to hope? Then why not 
trust them? Why not meet them with frankness and kindness? 
Why not encourage them with trust and confidence? 

" I deprecate all these measures because of the implication they 
carry upon their face, that the people who have heretofore owned 
slaves intend to do them wrong. I do not believe it. So far as 
my knowledge goes, and so far as my information extends, I be- 
lieve that the people who have held the freedmen slaves will treat 
them with more kindness, with more leniency, than those of the 
North who make such loud professions of love and affection for 
them, and are so anxious to pass these bills. They know their 
nature; they know their wants; they know their habits; they 
have been brought up together, and have none of the prejudices 
and unkind feelings which many in the North would have toward 
them. 

" I do not credit all these stories about the general feeling of 
hostility in the South toward the negro. So far as I have heard 
opinions expressed upon that subject, and I have conversed with 
many persons from that section of the country, they do not blame 
the negro for any thing that has happened. As a general thing, 
he was faithful to them and their interests until the army reached 
the place and took him from them. He has supported their wives 
and children in the absence of the husband- and lathers in the 
armies of the South. He has done for them what no one else 
could have done. They recognize his general good feeling toward 
them, and are inclined to reciprocate that feeling toward him. 

"I believe that is tin; general feeling of the Southern people 
to-day. The eases of ill-treatment are exceptional cases. They 
are like the cases which have occurred in the Northern States 
where the unfortunate have been thrown upon our charity. 
Take for instance the stories of the cruel treatment of the insane 
in the State of Massachusetts. They may have been barbarously 



THE Til I E T I -. \ 7. \ ' 77/ < '0. \ y ; R ES 

confined in the loath; - stated in particular in 

but is that any evidence of th< ral ill-will of thi le of 

the State of Massachusetts toward the insane? I- that any rea- 
son why the Federal arm should 1 tided to Massachus tts 1 
control and protect the insane there? 

" It has also been said thai certain pauper- in certain 
have been badly used — paupers, too, who were white-. 1- that 
any reason why we should extend the arm of the !' ' 
eminent to those States to protect the poor who are thrown u] on 
the charities of the people there? 

Sir, we must yield to the altered state of things in I 
country. We must trusi the people; it i< our duty to do so; wi 
can not do otherwise. And the sooner we place ourselves in a 
position where we can win the confidence of our lai 
where our counsels will be heeded, where our advice ma} 
garded, the sooner will the people of the whole country be fully 
reconciled to each other and their changed relationship; tin - 
will all the inhabitants of our country be in the p — -- >n of all the 
rights and immunities essential to their prosperity and happim 

Mr. Thornton, of [llinois, feared there was "something hidden, 
something more than appears in the language" of the bill. He 
feared "a design to confer the right of suffrage upon the i a 
and urged that a proviso should he accepted "restricting the 
meaning of the word- 'civil rights and immunities.'" II' 
marked further: "'The most serious objection that 1 have to this 
lull i-. that it i< an interference with the rights of the South. It 
was remarked by my friend from Wisconsin that it ha- often I 
intimated on this floor, and throughout the country, that whenever 
a man talks about either the ( Jonstitution or the rights of tin 3l 
- either a traitor or a sympathizer with treason. I do nol 
sume that the States are sovereign. They are subordinate I 
Federal Government. Sovereignty in thi- country i- in tl 
pie, hut the State- have certain rights, and those right ibso- 

lutclv necessary to the maintenance of our system of gover 
What are those rights? The right to determine ami fix the I 
status of the inhabitants of the respective States; the local powers 
of self-government ; the power to regulate all the relations that 
exist between husband and wife, parent ami child, guardian and 
ward ; all the fireside and home rights, which are nearer and d 
to us than all others. 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. !) 

"Sir, this is but a stepping-stone to a centralization of the 
Government and the overthrow of the local powers of the States. 
Whenever that is consummated, then farewell to the beauty, 
strength, and power of this Government. There is nothing left 
but absolute, despotic, central power. It lives no longer but as 
a naked despotism. There is nothing left to admire and to 
cherish." 

Mr. Windom, of Minnesota, next obtained the floor. Referring 
to the speech of Mr. Rogers, he said: "I wish to make another 
extract from the speech of the gentleman from Xew Jersey. He 
siid, ' If you pass this bill, you will allow negroes to compete for 
the high office of the President of the United State.-.' You will 
actually allow them to compete for the Presidency of the United 
States ! As for this fear which haunts the gentleman from New 
Jersey, if there is a negro in the country who is so far above all 
the white men of the country that only four millions of his own 
race can elect him President of the United States over twenty-six 
millions of white people, I think wc ought to encourage such 
talent in the country. 

"Sir, the gentleman has far less confidence in the white race 
than I have, if he is so timid in regard to negro competition. 
Does he really suppose that black men are so far superior to 
white men that four millions of them can elect a President 
their own race against the wishes of thirty millions of ours? 
Ever since I knew any thing of the party to which the gentle- 
man belongs, it has entertained this same morbid fear of n< g 
competition ; and sometimes 1 have thought that if we were to 
contemplate the subject from their stand-point we would have 
more charity than we do for this timidity and nervous dread 
which haunts them. I beg leave, however, to assure the gentle- 
man that there is not the slightest danger of electing a black 
President, and that he need never vote for one, unless he thii 
him better fitted for the office than a white man." 

With more direct reference to the merits of the question, Mr. 
Windom said: "Our warrant f..r the passage of this bill is found 
in the genius and spirit of our institutions; but not in these alone. 
Fortunately, the great amendment which broke the shackles from 
every slave in the land contains an express provision that 'Con- 
gress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legis- 
lation.' 



) THE THIRTY-MIJfTR COJVGRE& 

" When this amendment \\ I upon, ii was well underafo 

as it is now, that although the body of slavery might be destroyed, 
its spirit would -till live in the hearts of those who have sacrifi 
- much for its preservation, and that if the freedmen were left to 
the tender mercy of their former masters, to whosi heartless self- 
ishness lias been superadded a malignant desire for vengean< 
upon the negro for having aided us in crushing the rebellion, his 
idition would !"■ more intolerable thai: it was before the war. 
lence the broad grant of power was made to enable < longn -- 
nforce the spirit as well as the letter of the amendment. X ■■ 
in what way is it proposed to enforce if.' By denying to any 
one man a single right or j privilege which he could otherwise con- 
stitutionally or properly enjoy? No. By conferring on any • ■■ 
person or class of persons a single right or immunity which every 
other person may not possess? By uo means. Does it give to 
the loyal negro any preference over the recent would-be assassins 
of the nation ".' Not at all. It merely declare- that hereafter there 
shall he no discrimination in civil rights or immunities among the 
citizens of any State or territory of the United States <>n account 
of race, color, or previous condition of slavery, and that every 
person, except such a- arc excluded by reason of crime, shall have 
ime right to enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give 

evidence, to inherit, purchase, sell, hold, and convey real and per- 
sonal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws and pro- 
lii j- for the security of person and property, ami shall lie 
subject to like punishment, pain.-, ami penalties, ami to none 

other. 

■'We know, and the whole world know-, that when in the 
hour of our extremity we called upon the black race to aid US, 
we promised them not liberty only, hut all that that word liberty 
implies. All remember how unwilling we were to do any thing 
which would inure t<« the benefit of the negro. I recall with 
shame the fad thai when, live year- ago, the so-called Democ- 
racy—now Egyptians — were here in this capital, in the White 
House, in the Senate, and on this floor, plotting the destruction 
of the Government, and we were asked to appease them by sacri- 
ficing (he negro, two-thirds of both houses voted to rivet his 
chain- upon him SO 1 • * : 1 — :•- the republic >hoiild endure'. A widen- 
in- chasm yawned between the free and slave Stat< -. and we looked 
wildly around for thai wherewith it might he closed. In our ex- 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 

tremitv we seized upon the negro, bound and helpless, and tried to 
cast him in. But an overruling Providence heard the cries of the 
oppressed, and hurled his oppressors into that chasm by hundreds 
of thousands, until the whole land was idled with mourning, yet 
still the chasm yawned. In our anguish and terror, we felt that 
the whole nation would be speedily ingulfed in one common ruin. 
It was then that the great emancipator and savior of his country, 
Abraham Lincoln, saw the danger and the remedy, and seizing- 
lour million bloody shackles, he wrenched them from their victims, 
and standing with these broken manacles in his hands upraised 
toward heaven, he invoked the blessing of the God of the oppressed, 
and cast them into the fiery chasm. That ottering was accepted, 
and the chasm closed. 

"When the reports from Port Hudson and Fort Wagner 
thrilled all loyal hearts by the recital of the heroic deeds of the 
black soldier, we were not reminded that if the negro were per- 
mitted to enjoy the same rights under the Government his valor 
helped to save that are possessed by the perjured traitors who 
sought its destruction, it would 'lead to a war of races.' O no! 
Then we were in peril, and felt grateful even to the negro, who 
stood between us and our enemies. Then our only hope of safety 
was in the brave hearts and strong arms of the soldier at the front. 
Now, since by the combined efforts of our brave soldiers, white 
and black, the military power of the South has been overthrown, 
and her Representatives are as eager to resume their places on 
this floor as five year- ago they were to quit them for a place in 
the rebel army, we are told that, having been victorious, it becomes 
a great nation like ours to be magnanimous. I answer, it is far 
more becoming to be just. I am willing to carry my magnanimity 
to the verge of justice, but not one step beyond. I will go with 
1dm who goes furthest in acts of generosity toward our former 
enemies, unless those ads will be prejudicial to our friends. But 
when you advise me to sacrifice those who have stood by us during 
the war, in order to conciliate unrepentant rebels, whose hearts 
.-till burn with ill-suppressed hatred to the Government, I -corn 
your counsel." 

Mr. Shellabarger, of Ohio, said: "I agree with the gentleman 
on the other side of the Mouse, that this bid can not be passed 
under that clause of the Constitution which provides that Con- 
gress may pass uniform rules of naturalization. Under that 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

clause it is my opinion that the act of naturalization must not 
only !"• the act of the Government, but also tin- act of the indi- 
vidual alien, by which he renounces hi- former allegiance and 
accepts the new one. Ami that proposition and distinction will 
be found, 1 think, in all judicious arguments upon the subject. 

'• '1 here i- another class of persons well recognized, not only in 
our constitutional history, but also by the law- of nation-, who are 
not foreigners, who occupy an intermediate position, and that in- 
termediate position is defined by the laws of nations by the word 
'Mii jects.' Subjects arc all persons who, being born in a given 
country, ami under a given government, do not owe an allegiance 
to any other government. 

"To that class in this country, according to the decisions 
our courts hitherto, belong A.merican Indians ami slaves, ami. 
according to the Dred Scott decision, persons of African descent 
whose ancestors were slaves. All these were subjects by every 
principle of international as well as of settled constitutional law 
in this country. 

ow. then, to that class belong the p. rs »ns who are natural- 
ized by this hill. It' they were not. indeed, citizens hitherto, they 
w ire ;it least subjects of this < rovernment, by reason of their birth, 
and by reason of the fact thai they owed no foreign allegiance. 

•'That brings me to the next remark, and it is this: that tl 
subjects, not owing any foreign allegiance, no individual act of 
theirs is required in order to their naturalization, because they 
owe no foreign allegiance to be renounced by their individual 
acts, and because, moreover, being domiciled in our own country. 
and continuing here to reside, it is the individual election of each 
member of the tribe, or race, or class, to accept our nationality; 
therefore, no additional individual act i- required in order to his 
citizen-hip. 

"That being proved, it i- competent for the nationality, or for 
the government, wherever that subject may reside, to naturalize 
that class of persons by treaty or by general law. as i- proposed 
by the amendment of the gentleman from New York [Mr. Ray- 
mond]. It is the act of the sovereign alone that is requisite to 
the naturalization of that class of persons, and it may he done 
either by a single act naturalizing entire race- of men. or by 
adopting the heads of families out of those races, or it may be 
done to any extent, greater or less, that may please the sovereign. 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 

For this proposition, I refer gentlemen who desire to examine 
this subject to the authorities that may be found collected in any 
judicious work on public law, and they will find them very fully 
collected, certainly, in the notes to Wheaton. 

"Now, then, what power may do that act of naturalization, 
and how may it be exercised? That is also answered by these 
same authorities. It may be done in this country either by an 
act of Congress, or it may be done by treaty. It has been done 
again and again and again in both ways in this country. Jt was 
done once in the case of the Choctaw Indians, as you will find 
in the Statutes-at-Large, where, in case the heads of families 
desired to remain and not to remove to the West, it was pro- 
vided by the treaty of September 27, 1830, that those families 
should be naturalized as a class. 

"Then, again, it was done in the other way, by an act of Con- 
gress, in the case cited by my learned friend from Iowa [Mr. 
Wilson], in the case of the Stockbridge Indians. 

" It was done again, as you may remember, in the ease of the 
Cherokees, in December, 1835. There again a class was natur- 
alized by treaty." 

Some amendments having been proposed, the bill was recom- 
mitted to the Committee on the Judiciary, with the understand- 
ing that it should be returned for consideration on Thursday of 
the following week. 

Accordingly, on that day, March 8, the consideration of the 
bill being resumed, Mr, Broomall, of Pennsylvania, addressed 
the House. He viewed the bill as beneficent in its provisions, 
since it made no discrimination- against the Southern rebels, but 
granted them, as well as the negro, the rights of citizenship. 

"A question might naturally arise whether we ought again to 
trust those who have once betrayed us; whether we ought to give 
them the benefits of a compact they have once repudiated. Yet 
the spirit of forgiveness is so inherent in the American bosom, 
that no party in the country proposes to withhold from these 
people the advantages of citizenship; and this is saying much. 
With a debt that may require centuries tu pay; with so many 
living and mutilated witnesses of the horrors of war; with so 
many saddened homes, so many of the widowed and fatherL 3S 
pleading for justice, for retribution, if not revenge, it speaks well 
for the cause of Christian civilization in America that no party 



THE THIRTY-XIKTR CONGRESS. 

in the country proposes to deprive the authors of such innneas- 
urable calamity of the advantages of citizenship. 

•• !!ii! the election must lit- made. Some public legislative a<-t 
i- necessary to show the world that those who have forfeited all 
claims upon tin- Government are cot to be held to the strict ri 
of the law of their own invoking, the decision of the tribunal of 
their own choosing; that they an' to !>«• welcomed hack as the 
prodigal son, whenever they arc ready t<> return as the prodi- 
gal -"ii. 

••The acl under consideration makes that flection. It- terms 
embrace the late rebels, ami it gives them the rights, priviL 
ami immunities of citizens of the CJuited State-, though it does 
not propose to exempt them from punishment lor their past 
(•rim 

•• 1 mi"ht consent that the glorious (Iced- of the last five years 
should lie 1. lotted from the country's history : that the trophies 
won on a hundred battle-fields, the sublime visible evidenc 
the heroic devotion of America's citizen soldiery, should he burned 

on the altar of r< ustruction. I might consent that thecemetery 

at Gettysburg should he razed to the -round; that its soil should 
lie submitted to the plow, and that the lamentation of the hen- 
should give place to the lowing of cattle. But there is a i 

ad winch 1 will neither he forced nor persuaded. 1 will 
never consent that the Government shall desert its allies in the 
South, ami surrender their rights and interests to the enemy, and 
in this 1 will make no distinction of caste or color, either among 
friends or foes." 

Mr. Raymond, of. New York, was impressed with the impor- 
tance of the measure. " WTiether we consider it by itself, simply 
as a proposed statute, or in its bearings upon the general question 
of the restoration of peace and harmony to the Union, I regard 
it as one of the most important bills ever presented to this House 
for it- ad ion, worthy, in every respect, to enlist the coolest and the 
calmest judgmenl of every member whose vote must he recorded 
upon it." 

lie was in favor of the first part of the bill, which declares 

"who shall be citizens of the United State-, and to declare that 

all shall be citizens without distinction of race, color, or previous 

condition of servitude, who are, have been, or shall be born within 

limits and jurisdiction of the United State-. 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. %35 

"Now, sir, assuming-, as I do, without any further argument, 
that Congress has the power of admitting to citizenship this 
great class of persons just set free by the amendment to the Con- 
stitution of the United States abolishing slavery, I suppose 1 need 
not dwell here on the great importance to that class of persons 
of having this boon conferred upon them. 

"We have already conferred upon them the great, inestimable, 
priceless boon of personal liberty. I can not for one moment 
yield to what seems to be a general disposition to disparage the 
freedom we have given them. I think the fact that we have eon- 
ferred upon four million people that personal liberty and freedom 
from servitude from this time forward for evermore, is one of the 
highest and most beneficent acts ever performed by any Govern- 
ment toward so large a class of its people. 

"Having gone thus far, I desire to go on by successive steps 
still further, and to elevate them in all respects, so far as their 
faculties will allow and our power will permit us to do, to an 
equality with the other persons and races in this country. I 
desire, as the next step in the process of elevating that race, to 
give them the rights of citizenship, or to declare by solemn stat- 
ute that they are citizens of the United States, and thus secure to 
them whatever rights, immunities, privileges, and powers belong 
as of right to all citizens of the United States. I hope no one 
will be prepared or inclined to say this is a trifling boon. If we 
do SO estimate this great privilege, I fear we are scarcely in the 
frame of mind to act upon the great questions coming before us 
from day to day here. I, for one, am not prepared or inclined to 
disparage American citizenship as a personal qualification belong- 
ing to myself, or as conferred upon any of our fellow-citizens." 

Mr. Raymond expressed doubts as to the constitutionality of 
that part of the bill "that provides for that class of persons thus 
made citizens protection against anticipated inequality of legisla- 
tion in the several States." 

In this direction he was desirous of avoiding a veto. lie said : 
" Moreover, on grounds of expediency, upon which I will not 
dwell. 1 desire myself, and I should feel much relieved if I 
thought the House fully and heartily shared my anxiety, not to 
pass here any bill which shall be intercepted on its way to the 
statute-book by well-grounded complaints of unconstitutionality 
on the part of any other department of the Government." 



THE /////.' 7' )'-.\7.\77/ COJTGREIl 

Mr. Delano, of Ohio, followed, - _ loubts as to the 

constitutionality of the measure. II<- considered it a serious iu- 
tVii .t of the rights of the State-. Be -aid: " N sir, 

should this bill be passed, that law of the State might be over- 
thrown by tli«' power of < longn as. In my opinion, if we adopt 
the principle of this bill, we declare, in effect, that Congress has 
authority to go into th< - and manage and legislate with re- 

gard i" all the personal rights of the citizen — rights of life, lib- 
erty, and property. You render this Government no longer a 
Government of limited powers; you concentrate and consolidate 
here an extent of authority which will -wallow up all or nearly 
all of the rights of the States with respect to the property, the 
liberties, and the lives of its citizens." 

He added, near the close of his address: " I am not to be un- 
derstoo 1 as denying the power of this < rovernment, i specially that 
great war power which, when evoked, ha- no limit except as i; - 
limited by necessity and the laws of civilized warfare. But, - 
in time of peace I would not and 1 can not stand here and attempt 
the exercise of powers by this General Government, which, if car- 
ried out with all the logical consequences that follow their assump- 
tion, will, in my opinion, endanger the liberties of the country." 

Mr. Km-, of Indiana, maintained the theory that the States 
should settle questions of citizenship as relating to those within 
their borders; that "the privileges and immunities I itizeuship 
in the States arc required to be attained, if at all, 
laws or ( institutions of the States, and never in ■ •• of them." 

To sustain this theory, he read from a number of authorities, and 
finally remarked : 

"This bill rests upon a theory utterly inconsistent with, and in 
direct hostility to, every one of these authorities. It asserts the 
riehl of Congress to regulate the laws which shall govern in the 
acquisition and ownership of property in the States, and to del 
mine who may go there and purchase and hold property, and to 
protect such pci-on- in the enjoymenl of it. The right of the 
Stan- to regulate it- own internal and domestic affairs, to select its 
own local policy, and make and administer it- own laws, for the 
prot, ction and welfare of its own citizens, is denied. It ( 
can declare what rights and privileges shall be enjoyed in the 
State- Im the people of one e!a—, it can. by the same hind of rea- 

oing, determine what shall be enjoyed by every class. \\' h i 



CI I IL RIG FITS BIZ I. 

say who may go into and settle in and acquire property in a State, 
it can also say who shall not. [fit can determine who may tes- 
tily and sue in the courts of a State, it may equally determine who 
shall not. If it can order the transfer of suits from the Slate to the 
Federal courts, where citizens of the same State alone are parties, 
in such cases as may arise under this bill, it can, by parity of logic, 
dispense with State courts entirely. Congress, in short, may erect 
a great centralized, consolidated despotism in this capital. And 
such is the rapid tendency of such legislation as this bill proposes." 

On the succeeding day, March 9th, Mr. Wilson having de- 
manded the previous question, on the motion to recommit, was 
entitled to the floor, but yielded portions of his time to Mr. 
Bingham and Mr. Shellabargcr. 

The former had moved to amend the motion to recommit, by 
adding instructions "to strike out of the first section the words, 
'and there shall be no discrimination in civil rights or immuni- 
ties among citizens of the United States, in any State or Terri- 
tory of the United States, on account of race, color, or previous 
condition of slavery,' and insert in the thirteenth line of the first 
section, after the word ' right,' the words, ' in every State and 
Territory of the United States.' Also, to strike out all parts of 
said bill which are penal, and which authorize criminal proceed- 
ings, and in lieu thereof to give to all citizens injured by denial 
or violation of any of the other rights secured or protected by said 
act, an action in the United States courts with double costs in all 
cases of recovery, without regard to the amount of damages ; and 
also to secure to such persons the privilege of the writ of habeas 
corpus." 

Mr. Bingham said: "And, first, I beg gentlemen to consider 
that I do not oppose any legislation which is authorized by the 
Constitution of my country to enforce in its letter and its spirit 
the bill of rights as embodied in that Constitution. I know that 
the enforcement of the bill of rights is the want of the republic. 
I know if it had been enforced in good faith in every State of the 
Union, the calamities, and conflicts, and crimes, and sacrifices of 
the past five years would have been impossible. 

"But I feel that I am justified in saying, in view of the text 
of the Constitution of my country, in view of all its past inter- 
pretations, in view of the manifest and declared intent of the men 
who framed it, the enforcement of the Bill of Rights, touching the 



THE TIITT1 D'-M.VTir CONGRESS. 

life, liberty, and property of every citizen of the republic, within 
every organized State of the Union, i< of the res< rved | - of 

♦he States, to be enforced by State tribunals and by State officials, 
acting under the solemn obligations of an oath imposed upon them 
by the Constitution of the United States. Who can doubt this 

■ 

conclusion who considers the words of the Constitution, ' the pow- 
ers not delegated in the United State- by the Constitution, nor 
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States resp 
ivelv, or to the people?' The Constitution doe- not delegate t<> 
the United State- the power to punish offense-- against the life, 
liberty, or property of the citizen in th 3 5, nor does it pro- 
hibit that power to the State-, hut leaves it as the reserved power 
of the States; tojbe by them exercised. The prohibitions of power 
by the Constitution to the State- are express prohibitions, as that 
no State shall enter into any treaty, etc., or emit hills of credit, 
or pass any bill of attainder, etc. The Constitution does not 
prohibit Si ites from the en ctment of laws for the general gov- 
ernment of the people within their respective Limits. 

••The law in every State should be just; it should be no re- 
specter of persons. It is otherwise now, and it has been other- 
wise for many years in many of the States of the Union. I 
should remedy that, not by arbitrary assumption of power, but 
by amending the Constitution of the United States, < -ly 

prohibiting the State- from any such abuse of power in the fu- 
ture. Y"u propose to make it a penal offense t"« >r the judges of 
the States to obey the Constitution and laws of their State-, and 
for their obedience thereto to punish them by fine and imprison- 
ment as felons. 1 deny your power to do this. You can i 

make an official act, done under color of law, and without crim- 
inal intent, and from a sense of public duty, a crime." 

Mr. Shellabarger of < mio said : " I do not understand that there 
i- now any serious doubt anywhere a- to OUT power to admit by 
law to the rights of American citizenship entire classes or races 
who were born and continue to reside in our territory or in ter- 
ritory we acquire. I stated, the other day. some of the cases in 
which we naturalized races, tribes, and communities in mass, and 
by Bingle exercises of national sovereignty. This we did by the 
treaty of April 30, 1800, by which we acquired Louisiana; also 
in the treaty of ] > l ! t , by which we acquired Florida; also in the 
treaty of 1848, by which we acquired part of Mexico; also by 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 

the resolution of March 1, 1845, annexing Texas, and the act 
of December 29, same year, admitting Texas into the Union, we 
made all the people not slaves citizen-; also by the treaty of Sep- 
tember 27, 1830, we admitted to citizens certain heads of famili< - 
of Choctaws; also by the treaty of December 29, 1855, we did 
the same as to the Cherokees; also by the act of March 3, 1813, 
we admitted to full citizenship the Stockbridgc tribe of Indians." 
Referring to the first section which his colleague had proposed to 
amend, he said: "Sell-evidently this is the whole effect of this 
first section. It secures, not to all citizens, but to all races as 
races who are citizens, equality of protection in those enumerated 
civil rights which the States may deem proper to confer upon any 
races. Now, sir, can this Government do this? . Can it prevent 
one race of free citizens from being by State laws deprived as a 
race of all the civil rights for the securement of which his Gov- 
ernment was created, and which are the only considerations the 
Government renders to him for the Federal allegiance which he 
renders"? It does seem to me that that Government which has 
the exclusive right to confer citizenship, and which is entitled to 
demand service and allegiance, which is supreme over that due 
to any State, may — nay, must — protect those citizens in those 
rights which are fairly conducive and appropriate and necessary 
to the attainment of his ( protection' as a citizen. And I think 
those rights to contract, sue, testily, inherit, etc., which this bill 
says the races shall hold as races in equality, are of that class which 
are fairly conducive and necessary as means to the constitutional 
end ; to-wit, the protection of the rights of person and property 
of a citizen. It has been found impossible to settle or define what 
are all the indispensable rights of American citizenship. But it 
is perfectly well settled what are some of these, and without which 
there is no citizenship, either in this or any other Government. 
Two of these are the right of petition and the right of protection 
in such property as it is lawful for that particular citizen to own." 
The debate was closed by Mr. Wilson, Chairman of the Judi- 
ciary Committee. He said: "This bill, sir, has met with oppo- 
sition in both houses on the same ground that, in times gone by, 
before this land was drenched in blood by the slaveholders' rebell- 
ion, was urged by those who controlled the destinies of the south- 
ern portion of the country, and those who adhered to their fortunes 
in the North, for the purpose of riveting the chains of slavery and 



THE THIRTY-NINTH COXGRE 



converting this republic into a great slave nation. The argu- 
ments which have been urged against this l»ill in both hous 

are but counterparts of the argi nts used in opposition to the 

authority the Government sought to exercise in controlling and 
pr eventing the spread of slavery. 

"Citizens of the United Stat< 3uch, are entitled to certain 

rights, and. being: entitled to those rights, it is the dutv of the 
Government to protect citizens in the perfect enjoyment of them. 
The citizen is entitled to life, liberty, and the right to property. 
The gentleman from Ohio tells us, in the protection of th 
rights, the citizen must depend upon the 'honest purpose of the 

•ml States/ and that the General Government can not inter- 
pose its strong right arm to defend the citizen in the enjoymenl 
of life, liberty, and in possession of property. In other words, 
if the States of this Union, in their 'honest purpose,' like the 
honesty of purpose manifested by the Southern States in times 
past, should deprive the citizen, without due process of law, of 
life, liberty, and property, the General Government, which can 
draw the citizen by the strong bond of allegiance to the battle- 
field, has no power to intervene and set aside a State law, and 
give the citizen protection under the laws of Congress in the 
courts of the United States; that at the mercy of the States lie 
all the rights of the citizens of the United States; that while it 
was deemed necessary to constitute a great Government to render 

nre the rights of the people, the framers of the Government 
turned over to the State- the power to deprive the citizen of those 
thine- for the security of which the Government was trained. In 
other words, the little State of Delaware has a hand stronger than 
the United States; that revolted South Carolina may put under 
lock and key the great fundamental rights belonging to the citi- 
zen, and we must he dumb; that our legislative power can not 
1,- exercised; that our curt- musl he closed to the appeal of our 
citizens. That is the doctrine this House of Representatives, rep- 
resenting a great free people, just emerged from a terrible war for 

the maintenan< f American liberty, is asked to adopt. 

"The gentleman from Ohio tells the House that civil rights 
involve all the rights that citizens have under the Government; 

that in the term are embraced those rights which belong to the 
citizen of the United States as such, and those which belong to 
a citizen of a State as Buoh; and that this hill is not intended 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 24 1 

merely to enforce equality of rights, so far as they relate to citi- 
zens of the United States, but invades the States to enforce equality 
of rights in respect to those things which properly and rightfully 
depend on State regulation- and laws. My friend is too - und a 
lawyer, is too well versed in the Constitution of his counl -v. to 
indorse that proposition on calm and deliberate consideration. He 
knows, as every man knows, that this bill refers to those fights 
which belong to men as citizens of the United States and none 
other; and when he talks of setting aside the school laws, and 
jury laws, and franchise laws of the States, by the bill now under 
consideration, he steps beyond what he must know to be the rule 
of construction which must apply here, and, as the result of 
which this bill can only relate to matters within the control of 
( Jongress." 

Comparing Mr. Bingham's proposed amendment with the orig- 
inal bill, Mr. Wilson said : " What difference in principle is there 
between saying that the citizen shall be protected by the legisla- 
tive power of the United States in his rights by civil remedy and 
declaring that he shall be protected by penal enactments against 
those who interfere with his rights? There is no difference in 
the principle involved. If we may adopt the gentleman's mode, 
we may also select the mode provided in this bill. There is a 
difference in regard to the expense of protection ; there is also a 
difference as to the effectiveness of the two modes. Beyond this, 
nothing. This bill proposes that the humblest citizen shall have 
full and ample protection at the cost of the Government, whose 
duty it is to protect him. The amendment of the gentleman 
recognizes the principle involved, but it says that the citizen de- 
spoiled of his rights, instead of being properly protected by the 
Government, must press his own way through the courts and pay 
the bills attendant thereon. This may do for the rich, but to the 
poor, who need protection, it is mockery. The highest obligation 
which the Government owes to the citizen, in return for the alle- 
giance exacted of him, is to secure him in the protection of his 
rights. Under the amendment of the gentleman, the citizen can 
only receive that protection in the form of a few dollars in the 
way of damages, if he shall be so fortunate as to recover a ver- 
dict against a solvent wTong-doer. This is called protection. 
This is what we are asked to do in the way of enforcing the bill 
of rights. Dollars are weighed against the right of life, liberty, 
16 



THE Till B T i'-.Y/.Y Til < 'O. ^ '( / R ES v 

and property. The verdict of a jury i- to cover all wrongs and 
discharge the obligations of the Govemmeni to its citizens. 

"Sir, I can aol see the justice of that doctrine. I assert that 
it i- the duty of the Government of the United States to provide 
proper protection and to pay the costs attendant on it. We hav< 

nt with the strong arm of the < rovernment and drawn from 

their homes, all over this land, in obedience to the bond of alie- 
nee which tlr Government holds on the citizen, hundreds 
thousands of men to the battle-field; and yet, while we may ex- 
ercise this extraordinary power, the gentleman claim- that we can 
not extend the protecting hand of the Government to these men 
who have Keen battling for the life of the nation, but ran only 

id them, at their own cost, to juries for verdicts of a few dol- 
lars in compensation for the most flagrant wrong to their most 
sacred rights. Let those support that doctrine who will. I can 
not." 

At th.- conclusion of Mr. Wilson's speech, Mr. Eldridge, of 
Wisconsin, moved to lay the whole subject on the table. This 
motion was rejected — yea-. 32; nays, 118. 

The House then rejected Mr. Bingham's proposed amendment, 
and recommitted the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

On the 13th of March the bill was reported back from the 
committee with some amendments, one of which was to strike 
out in section one the following words: 

"Without distinction of color, and there shall be no discrimination in 

civil rights, or immunities among citizens of the Unit - in any State 

or Territory of the United States on account of race, color, or previous 
condition of slavery." 

The words were omitted to satisfy some who feared that it 
might be held by the courts that the right of suffrage was con- 
ferred thereby. 

Another amendment proposed was the addition of a section to 
the bill, to-w it : 

I That upon all questions of law arising in any 

cast' under the provisions of this act, a anal appeal may be taken to the 
Supreme Court of the United States 

Other amendments proposed and adopted were chiefly of a 

verbal character. 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 2. 

The main question was finally taken, and the bill passed by 
the following vote: 

Yeas — Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Anderson, James M. Ashley, Bilker, 
Baldwin, Banks, Baxter, Beaman, Bidwell, Blaine, Blow, Boutwell, Brom- 
well, Broomall, Buckland, Bundy, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Conkling, Cook, 
Cullom, Darling, Davis, Dawes, Delano, Deining. Dixon, Donnelly, Driggs 
Dumont, Eliot, Farnsworth, Farquhar, Ferry, Garfield, Grinnell, Aimer i 
Harding, Hart, Hayes, Higby, Hill, Holmes, Hooper, Asahel W, Hubbard, 
Chester 1 >. Hubbard, Demas Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, Hulburd, James 
Humphrey, [ngersoll, Jenckes, Julian, Kelley, Kelso. Ketcham, Kuykendall, 
Laflin, George V. Lawrence, William Lawrence, Loan, Longyear, Lynch, 
Marston, Marvin, McClurg, McRuer, Mercur, Miller, Moorhead, Morrill, 
Morris, Moulton. Myers, Newell, O'Neill, Orth, Paine, Perham, Pike, Plants, 
Price, Alexander II. Rice, Sawyer, Sohenck, Seofield, Shellabarger, Sloan, 
Spalding, Star,'. Stevens, Thayer, Francis Thomas, John L. Thomas, Trow- 
bridge, Upson, Van Aernam, Burt Van Horn, Ward. Warner, Elihu B. 
Washburne, William B. Washburn, Wclker, Wentwortb, Whaley, Williams, 
James F. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, Windom, and Woodbridge — 111. 

Nays— Messrs. Ancona, Bergen, Bingham, Boyer, Brooks, Coffroth, Daw- 
son, Denison, Glosbrenner, Goodyear, Glider, Aaron Harding, Harris, 
Hogan, Edwin N. Hubbell, Jones, Ken-, Latham, Le Blond, Marshall, Mc- 
Cullough, Nicholson, Phelps, Radford, Samuel J. Randall, Willam H. Ran- 
dall, Hitter, Rogers, Ross, Rosseau, Shanklin, Sitgreaves, Smith, Taber, 
Taylor, Thornton, Trimble, and Winfield— 38. 

Not Voting — Messrs. Delos R. Ashley, Barker. Benjamin, Brandegee, 
Chanler, Reader W. Clarke, Culver, Defrees, Eckley, Eggeston, Eldridge, 
Finck, Griswold, Dale, Henderson, Hotchkiss, James R. Hubbell, James M. 
Humphrey. Johnson, Kasson, Mclndoe, McKee, Niblack, Noell, Patterson, 
Pomeroy, Raymond, John H. Rice, Rollins, Stilwell, Strouse, Robert T. 
Nan Horn. Henry D. Washburn, and Wright — 34, 

It is an illustration of the opinion which the minority enter- 
tained of the bill to the last, that after it had finally passed, and 
the previous question had been moved on the adoption of the 
title, Mr. Le Blond moved to amend the title of the bill by 
making it read, "A bill to abrogate the rights and break down 
the judicial system of the States." 

On the loth of March the amendments made by the House 
came before the Senate for adoption in that body. While these 
were under consideration by the Senate, Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, 
made two motions to amend, which were rejected. He then 
moved to lay the bill on the table, and was proceeding to make 
a speech, when he was informed that his motion was not debat- 
able. He then withdrew his motion to lay on the table, and 



THE THIRTY-JflJfTR C0KGR1 

moved to postpone the bill until the first Mond ember 

following. Finding that the last amendment proposed by the 
House of Representatives was before the Senate, and that his 
motion could nol be entertained, he proceeded to m speech 

on the question before the Sen; He asserted that "Congn 

has no authority or jurisdiction whatever" over the subject of 
legislation which the bill contains. He closed his remarks with 
the following words: "I therefore, on the grounds that I ha^ 
stated, oppose this bill. I know that they weigh nothing with 
the dominant power here. What care I for that? What care I 
for the manner in which my suggestions may be received by tin 
majority? Nothing — less than nothing, if possible. I am per- 
forming my duty according to my sense of that duty; and in 
despite of all opposition, of frowns or scoffs, or of any other op- 
position, come in what form it may, 1 will stand up to the lasl 
hour of my service in this chamber, and will, endeavor, is best I 
can, to perform my duty whatever may betide me." 

The amendment- of the House were agreed to, and the Civil 
Rights Bill wanted only Executive approval to become a law 
of the land. 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL AND THE VETO. 

Doubts as to the President's Decision — Suspense ended — The Veto Mes- 
sage — Mr. Trumbull's Answer — Mr. Reyerdy Johnson defends the 
Message— Rejoinder — Remarks of Mr. V alios — Mr. Cowan appeals to 
the Country — Mr. Stewart shows how States may make the J. aw a 
Nullity — Mr. Wade — Mr. McDougall on Persian Mythology — Mr. J. 
H. Lane defends the President — Mr. Wade — The Presidents Col- 
lar — Mr. Brown — Mr. Doolittle — Mr. Garrett Davis — Mr. Sauls- 
bury — Yeas and Nays in the Senate — Vote in the House — The Civil 
Rights Bill becomes a Law. 

THE Civil Rights Bill having finally passed through Congress, 
on the loth of March, by the concurrence of the Senate in 
the amendments of the House, was submitted to the Presi- 
dent for his approval. Much anxiety was felt throughout the 
country to know what would be the fate of the bill at the hands 
of the Executive. Some thought it incredible that a President of 
the United States would veto so plain a declaration of rights, es- 
sential to the very existence of a large class of inhabitants. 
Others were confident that Mr. Johnson's approval would not be 
given to a bill interfering, as they thought, so flagrantly witli the 
rights of the States under the Constitution. 

All doubts were dispelled, on the 27th of March, by the ap- 
pearance of the President's Secretary on the floor of the Senate, 
who said, in formal phrase: " Mr. President, I am directed by the 
President of the United States to return to the Senate, in which 
house it originated, the bill entitled ' An act to protect all persons 
in the United States in their civil rights, and to furnish the means 
of their vindication/ with his objections thereto in writing." 

The Secretary of the Senate then read the message, which was 
heard with profound attention by the Senators, and a large assem- 
bly which thronged the galleries, drawn thither in anticipation 
of the President's veto message. 



240 THE Tlllirr)--.YI.YTII COJfQBES 

■ ■/■ . United & 

I regret that the bill which hi - - d both hous - Congress, < Qti 

■ \n act to protect all persona in the United State- in their civil ri - nd 
furnish the means for their vindication,' contains pi - which I can 

approve, consistently with my sense of dut) to the whole people and my 
obligations to the Constitution of the United ~ • 1 am therefon 
strained to return it to the Senate, the house in which i I, with 

mv objections to its becoming a law. 

Bj the first section of the bill, all persons born in the Unit sd States, and 
subject to any foreign power, excluding Lndians not taxed, are declared 
to be citizens of the United States. This provision comprehends the Chi- 
of the Pacific State-. Indians subject to taxation, the people eal 

Gypsies, as well as tl mire race designated a- blacks, peopl or, 

. mulattoes, and persons of African blood. Every individual of th< 
races, born in the 1 nited States, is by the bill made a citizen of the United 
- tes i- d< es not purport to declare or confer any other right of citizen- 
ship than Federal citizenship. It does not purport to give these classes of 
persons anj as citizens of Si tcept that which may result from 

their status as citizens of the United State-. The power to confer the ri 
of State citizenship is just as exclusively with the Beveral States as the 
r to confer the right of Federal citizenship is with Congi 
"The right of Federal citizenship thus to be conferred on the severa 

5 efore mentioned is now, for the first time, proposed to be 
<>iven hv law. If. as is claimed by many, all persons who are native-born, 
already are. hv virtue of the Constitution, citizens of the United States, I 
passage of the pending bill can not be necessary to make them such. If, 
on the other hand, such persons are not citizens, as may he assumed from 
the proposed legislation to make them such, the grave question presents it- 
Belf, whether, when eleven of the thirty-six Mate- are unrepresented in Con- 
gress, at this time it is sound policy to make our entire colored population 
ami till other excepted classes citizens of the United Stat - i i'ur mill' 
of them have just emerged from slavery into freedom Can it be reasonably 
supposed that they possess the requisite qualifications to entitle them to all 
the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United - Have the 

people of the several States expressed such a conviction? I; may also 

,e,l whether it i- necessarj that the) should he declared citizens in order 
that they ma\ he secured in the enjoyment of civil rights? Those rights 
proposed to aferred by the hill are, bj Federal as well a- h. - 

law-. Becured to all domiciled alien- and foreigners even before the comple- 
tion of the proi naturalization, ami it may safely he assumed that the 
same enactments are sufficient to give like protection and benel 
for whom this hill provides special legislation. Besides, the policy of I 
Government, from it- origin to the present time, seems to have been that 
persons who are stranj i rs to and unfamiliar with our institution- and I i 

law- .should pass through a certain probation, at the end ><\' which, bed 

,-. thev must -i\'' evidem f their fitness to re- 
ceive and to exercise the rights ol - a- contemplated i \ the Constitu- 
tion of the I nii.d - 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 

"The bill, In effect, proposes a discrimination against large numbers of 
intelligent, worthy, and patriotic foreigners, and in favor of the negro, to 
whom, after long years of bondage, the avenues to freedom and intelligenc i 
have new been suddenly opened. He must, of necessity, from his previous 
unfortunate condition of servitude, be less informed as to the nature and 
character of our institutions than he who. coming from abroad, has to some 
extent at least, familiarized himself with the principles of a Government 
tn which he voluntarily intrusts 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' 
Yet it is now proposed by a single legislative enactment to confer the rights 
of citizens upon all persons of African descent, born within the extended 
limits of the I nited States, while persons of foreign birth, who make our 
land their home, must undergo a probation of five years, and can only then 
become citizens upon proof that they are of 'good moral character, attached 
to the principles of the < institution of the United States, and well dispos< d 
to the good order and happiness of the same.' 

"The first seetimi of the bill also contains an enumeration of the rights 
tu be enjoyed by these classes, so made citizens, 'in every State and Terri- 
tory in the United State-' These rights are. 'To make and enforce con- 
tracts, to sue. be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, 
hold, and convey real and personal property,' and to have 'full and equal 
benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of persons and property 
as is enjoyed by white citizens.' So. too, they are made subject to the same 
punishment, pains, and penalties in common with white citizens, and to 
none others. Thus a perfect equality of the white and black races is at- 
tempted to be fixed by Federal law, in every State of the Union, over the 
vast field of State jurisdiction covered by these enumerated rights. In no 
one of these can any State ever exercise any power of discrimination be- 
tween the different races 

"In the exercise of State policy over matters exclusively affecting the peo 
pie of each State, it has frequently been thought expedient to discriminate 
between the two races. By the statutes of some of the States, Northern as 
well as Southern, it is enacted, for instance, that no white person shall in- 
termarry with a negro or mulatto. Chancellor Kent says, speaking of the 
blacks, that 'marriages between them and whites are forbidden in some of 
the States where slavery dues not exist, and they are prohibited in all the 
slaveholding States, and when not absolutely contrary to law, they are re- 
volting, and regarded as an offense against public decorum.' 

"1 do not say this !,il! repeals State laws on the subject of marriage be- 
tween the two races, for a> the whites are forbidden to intermarry with the 
Macks, the blacks can only make such contracts - as the wli-ites themselves 
are allowed to make, ami therefore can not. under this hill, enter into the 
marriage contract with the whites. I cite this discrimination, however, as 
an instance of the State policy as to discrimination, and to inquire whether, 
if Congress can abrogate all State laws of discrimination between the two 
race-- in the matter of real estate, of suits, and of contracts generally, Con- 
gress may not also repeal the State laws as t<> the contract of marriage be- 
tween the two races'.' Hitherto every subject embraced in the enumeration 
of rights contained in this bill has ttsi i red s i sclusivelj belonging 



. .8 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

to the States. They all relate to the internal policy and economy of the re- 
ti .. states They are matters which in each State concern the domestic 
condition of its people, varying in each according to it- own i uliar circum- 
stances, and the Bafety and well-being of its own citizens I do not mean 
to say that upon all these subjects there are not Federal restrai for 

instance, in the State power of legisla r contracts, there is a Federal 

limitation that no State -hall pass a law impairing the obligations of con- 
tracts; and as to crimes, that no State shall pass an law; and < 
as to money, that no State .-hall make any thing but gold and silver a legal 
tender But when- can we find a Federal prohibition against the power of 
any State to discriminate, as do most of them, between aliens and citizens, 
between artificial persons called corporations and natural persons, in the 
right to hold real estate 

"If it be granted that Congress can repeal all State laws discriminating 
betwem white- and blacks, in the subj • vered by this bill, why. it may 
be asked, may not Congress repeal in the same way all State law- discrim- 
inating between the tun races on the subject of suffrage ami office? li' 
Congress can 4. ■dare by law who shall hold lands, who shall testify, who 
shall ha\e capacity to make a contract in a State, then Congress can by law 
also declare who, without regard to color or race, -hall have the right to 
sit a- a juror or as a judge, to hold any office, and, finally, to vote, -in every 
State and Territory of the United States.' A- respects the Territories, they 
come within the power of Congress, for, a- to them, the law-making power 
i- the Federal power; hut as to the State-, n. , similar provisions exi>t. \ 
lU _ i,, Con« jiower 'to make rule- ami regulations' tor them. 

"The object of the see, .ml section of the hill i> to afford discriminating 
protection to colored persons in the full enjoyment of all the rights secured 
to them by the preceding section. It declares that any person who, under 
or oi any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, shall subject, or 
e subjected, any inhabitant of an; - or Territory to the de- 
privation of any right secured or protected by this act, or to different pun- 
ishment, pains, or penalties on account of such person having at one time 
been hell in a condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except a- a 
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, or 
by reason of hi- color or race, than is prescribed for the punishment of 
w hi on- shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction, 

shall 1- punished by line not ex idin« si. , or by imprisonment not 

..,-. or both, in the discretion ..f the court' This section 
taa to I,.- designed to applj to -..me existing or future law of a State or 
Territory .which may conflict with the provisions of the hill now under con- 
sideration lr provides for counteracting such forbidden legislation by im- 
posing line an, I imprisonment upon the h - who may pass such 
law-, or up,. u thi officers or agents who shall put, or attempt to 
put, them into execution It mean- an official offense, not a common .-rime 
committed against law upon the persons or property of the black race. 
Such an act may deprive the black man of hi- property, but not "\' the 
right to hold property. It mean- a deprivation o ighl itself, either by 
tie Judiciary or the S ''«• I' fore assumed that, 



CIVIL EIGHTS BILL. 240 

under this section, members of State Legislatures who should vote for laws 
conflicting with the provisions of the bill; that judges of the State courts 
who should render judgments in antagonism with its terms; and that mar- 
shals and sheriffs, who should, as ministerial officers, execute processes, 
sanctioned by State laws and issued by State judges, in execution of their 
judgments, could be brought before oilier tribunals, and there subjected to 
fine and imprisonment for the performance of the duties which such State 
laws might impose. 

"The legislation thus proposed invades the judicial power of the State. 
It says to every State court or judge, If you decide that this act is uncon- 
stitutional; if you refuse, under the prohibition of a State law. to allow a 
negro to testify; if you hold that over such a subject-matter the State law- 
is paramount, and 'under color' of a State law refuse the exercise of the 
right to the negro, your error of judgment, however conscientious, shall sub- 
ject vou to line and imprisonment. 1 do not apprehend that the conflicting 
legislation which the bill seems to contemplate is so likely to occur as to 
render it necessary at this time to adopt a measure of such doubtful consti- 
tutionality. 

"In the next place, this provision of the bill seems to be unnecessary, as 
adequate judicial remedies could be adopted to secure the desired end 
without invading the immunities of legislators, always important to he pre- 
served in the interest of public liberty; without assailing the independence 
of the judiciary, always essential to the preservation of individual rights; 
and without impairing the efficiency of ministerial officers, always necessary 
for the maintenance of public peace and order. The remedy proposed by 
this section seems to lie, in this respect, not only anomalous, but unconsti- 
tutional; for the Constitution guarantees nothing with certainty, if it does 
not insure to the several States the right of making and executing laws in 
regard to all matters arising within their jurisdiction, subject only to the 
restriction that, in cases of conflict with the Constitution and constitutional 
laws of the United States, the latter should be held to be the supreme law 
of the land. 

"The third section gives the district courts of the United States exclusive 
'cognizance of all crimes and offenses committed against the provisions of 
this act.' and concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit courts of the United 
States of all civil and criminal cases 'affecting persons who are denied or 
can not enforce in the courts or judicial tribunals of the State or locality 
where they may he any of the rights secured to them by the first section.' 
The construction which 1 have given to the second section is strengthened 
by this third section, lor it makes clear what kind of denial or deprivation 
of the rights secured by the first section was in contemplation. It is a de- 
nial or deprivation of such rights 'in the courts or judicial tribunals of the 
State.' It stands, therefore, clear of doubt, that the offense and the penal- 
ties provided in the second section are intended for the State judge, who, in 
the 'dear exercise of his function as a judge, not acting ministerially, hut 
judicially, shall decide contrary to this Federal law. In other word-, when 
a State judge, acting upon a question involving a conflict between a State 
law and a Federal law, and bound, according to his own judgment and re- 



• THE rui irr)'-.vi.yrn CONGREh 

risibility, to give an impartial decision between the two, cornea to the 
conclusion that the State law i- valid and the Federal law is invalid, he 
must not follow the dictates of hi- own judgment, at the peril of fine and 
imprisonment The legislative department of the Government of the United 
States thus takes from the judicial department of the States the sacred and 
luty of judicial decision, and converts the State judge into a mere 
ministerial officer, bound t<> dei cording to the will of Congr 

•'It is clear that, in States which deny to persons whose rights ar 
cured l>y the first section of the bill any one of those rights, all criminal 
and civil cases affecting them will, by the provisions of the third section, 
come under the exclusive cognizance of the Federal tribunals. It foil 
that if, in any State which denies to a colored person any one of all t ; 
rights, that person should commit a crime against the laws of the State- 
murder, areon, rape, or any other crime — all protection and punishment 
through the courts of the State are taken away, and he ran only be tried 
and punished in the Federal courts How is the criminal to be tried'.' It' 
the offense is provided for ami punished by Federal law, that law, and 
the State law . is to govern. 
•'I' is only when the offense does not happen to be within the purview 
eral law that the Federal courts are to try and punish him under 
any other law; then resorl is to be had to 'the common law, as modified 
and changed' by State legislation, 'so far as the same is nut incons 
with tie I Lution and laws of the United States.' So that over this 

domain of criminal jurisprudence, provided by each State for the protection 
of its own citizens, and for the punishment of all persons who violate 
criminal laws, Federal law, wherever it can be made to apply, disphu - 
State law. 

'•'The question here naturally arises, from what soun ijress derives 

the power tn transfer to Federal tribunals certain classes of cases embra 
in this section. The Constitution expressly declares that the judicial power 
of the United States 'shall extend to all cases in law and equity arising under 
this Constitution, the laws of the United State-, and treaties made, or which 
shall he made, under their authority; to all cases affecting embassadors, 
other public ministers, and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime 
jurisdiction; in controversies t" which the United States shall he a par' 
to controversies between two or more State-, between a State ami citizens 
nl' another State, between citizens of different States, between citizens of 
tic ate claiming land under grants of different State-, and between 

a State. «,r the citizens thereof, and foreign State-, citizens, or subjec! 

■ Here the judicial power of the United State- i- expressly set forth and 
defined; ami the acl of September 24, 1789, establishing the judicial courts 
of the I States, in conferring upon the Federal courts jurisdiction over 

cases originating in State tribunals, is careful to confine them to the classes 
cnumerate.l in the above recited clause of the C nstitution, This section 
of the hill undoubtedly comprehends case, and authorizes the exercise of 
powers that are not, L\ the Constitution, within the jurisdiction of the com 
of the United State- To transfer them to those courts would he an exer- 
of authority well calci distrust and alarm on the part of 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 



»-. 



all the States; for the bill applies alike to all of them— as well to those that 
have as to those thai have not been engaged in rebellion. 

"It may be assumed that this authority is incident to the power granted 
to Congress by the Constitution, as recently amended, to enforce, by appro- 
priate legislation, the article declaring that 'neither slavery nor involuntary 
servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have 
been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place sub- 
ject to their jurisdiction.' It can not, however, he justly claimed that, with 
a view to the enforcement of this article of the Constitution, there is, at 
present, any necessity for the exercise of all the powers which this bill 
i'o nfers. 

Slavery has been abolished, and. at present, nowhere exists within the 
jurisdiction of the United Stares: nor has there been, nor is it likely there 
will be, any attempt to revive it. by the people of the States. If. however, 
any such attempt shall be made, it will then become the duty of the Gen- 
eral Government to exercise any and all incidental powers necessary and 
proper to maintain inviolate this great constitutional law of freed.ua. 

• The fourth section of the bill provides that officers and agents of the 
Freedmen's Bureau shall be empowered to make arrests, and also that other 
officers may be specially commissioned for that purpose by the President of 
the United States. It also authorizes circuit courts of the United States and 
the superior courts of the Territories to appoint, without limitation, commis- 
sioners, who are to be charged with the performance of quasi judicial duties. 
The fifth section empowers the commissioners so to be selected by the courts 
to appoint, in writing, under their hands, one or more suitable persons, from 
time to time, to execute warrants and other processes described by the bill. 
These numerous official agents are made to constitute a sort of police, in 
addition to the military, and are authorized to summon a posse comitatus 
and even to call to their aid such portion of the land and naval forces of 
the United States, or of the militia, 'as may be necessary to the perform- 
ance of the duty with which they are charged.' 

■■This extraordinary power is to be conferred upon agents irresponsible 
to the Government and to the people, to whose number the discretion of the 
commissioners is the only limit, and in whose hands such authority might 
he made a terrible engine of wrong, oppression, and fraud. The general 
Btatutes regulating the land and naval forces of the United States, the mi- 
litia, and the execution of the laws, are believed to he adequate for every 
emergency which can occur in time of peace. If it should prove otherwise, 
Congress can, at any time, amend those; laws in such manner as. while sub- 
serving the public welfare, not to jeopard the rights, interests, and liberties 

of the people. 

■•The seventh section provides that a fee of ten dollars shall he paid to 
each commissioner in every case brought before him. and a fee of five dol- 
lars to his deputy, or deputies, 'for each person he or they may arrest and 
take before any such commissioner,' 'with such other fees as may be deemed 
reasonable by such commissioner,' 'in general for performing such other du- 
ties as may be required in the premise.-.' All these U-<^ are to be paid out 
of the Treasury of the United States,' whether there is a conviction or not; 



THE Till i; I ) -.VI. VII I COJVGBESS. 

but, in ease of conviction, they are to be recoverable from the defendant 
It seems tn me that, under the influence of such temptations, bad men might 
convert any law, however beneficent, into an instrument of persecution and 
fraud. 

■■ U\ the eighth section of the bill, the United States courts, which sit only 
in one place fur white citizens, must mil vith the marshal and district 

attorney (and necessarily with the clerk, although he i- not mentioned), to 
any part of the district, upon the order of the President, and then- hold a 
court ' for the purpose of the more speedy arrest and trial of persons charged 
with a violation of this act;' and there the judge and the officers of the 
court must remain, upon the order of the President, 'for the time therein 
designat 

"The ninth section authorizes the President, or such person as he may 
empower for that purpose, to employ such part of the land and naval ; 
of the United States, or of the militia, as shall be necessary to prevent the 
violation and enforce the due execution of this act 1 This Ian seems 

n. imply a permanent military force, that is to be always at hand, and 
whose only business is to be the enforcement of this measure over the vast 
■ ii w here it is intended to operate, 

"I do not propose to consider the policy of this bill. To me the details 
of the 'ill seem fraught with evil. The white race and the black ni> 
the South have hitherto lived together under the relation of master and slave 
— capital owning labor. Now, suddenly, that relation is changed, and, as to 
the ownership, capital and labor are divorced. They Btand, now. each 
master of itself In this new relation, one being necessary to the other, 
there will be a new adjustment, which both are deeply interested in making 
harmonious Each has equal power in settling the terms, and, if left to the 
laws that regulate capital ami labor, it is confidently believed that they will 
satisfactorily work out the problem. Capital, it i< true, has more intelli- 
gence; hut Labor is never so ignorant as nut to understand its own interest-, 
not to know its own value, ami not t" see that capital must pay that value 
This hill frustrates this adjustment It intervenes between capital ami 
labor, ami attempts to settle questions of political economy through the 
agencj of numerous officials, whose interest it will lie to foment discord 
between the two races; lor. as the breach widens, their employment will 
continue, ami when it i- closed, their occupation will terminate. 

'■In all our history, in all our experience a- a people living under Fed- 
eral ami State law, no such system as that contemplated by the details of 
this hill has ever before been proposed or adopted. They establish, for the 
security of the colored race, safeguards which go infinitely beyond am that 
the General Government ha.- ever provided for the white race. In fact, the 
distinction of race ami color is, by the hill, made t" operate in favor of the 
colore. 1 and against the white race Thej interfere with the municipal leg- 
islation of the State-, with the relations existing exclusively between a State 
ami iis citizens, or between inhabitants of the same State —an absorption 
ami assumption of power by the Gem ral Government which, if ao |uiesced 
in. must sap ami destroy our federative system of limited powers, ami break 
down the barriers which preserve the rights of the State-. It i- am 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. %53 

step, or rather stride, to centralization and the concentration of all legisla- 
tive power in the National Government, The tendency of the bill must be 
to resuscitate the spirit of rebellion, and to arrest the progress of those influ- 
ences which are more closely drawing around the States the bonds of union 
and peace. 

"My lamented predecessor, in his proclamation of the 1st of January, 
1863, ordered and declared that all persons held as slaves within certain 
States and parts of States therein designated, were and thenceforward should 
be free; and, further, that the Executive Government of the United States, 
including the military and naval authorities thereof, would recognize and 
maintain the freedom of such persons. This guarantee has been rendered 
especially obligatory and sacred by the amendment of the Constitution abol- 
ishing slavery throughout the United States. I, therefore, fully recognize 
the obligation to protect and defend that class of our people whenever and 
wherever it shall become necessary, and to the full extent compatible with 
the Constitution of the United States. 

"Entertaining these sentiments, it only remains for me to say that I will 
cheerfully cooperate with Congress in any measure that may be necessary 
for the protection of the civil rights of the freedmen, as well as those of 
all other classes of persons throughout the United States, by judicial pro- 
cess under equal and impartial laws, in conformity with the provisions of 
the Federal Constitution. 

"I now return the bill to the Senate, and regret that, in considering the 
bills and joint resolutions — forty-two in number — which have been thus far 
submitted for my approval, I am compelled to withhold my assent from a 
second measure that has received the sanction of both houses of Congress. 

"ANDREW JOHNSON. 
"Washington, D. C, March 27, 1860." 

The death and funeral obsequies of Senator Foot prevented 
the Senate from proceeding to the consideration of the Presi- 
dent's veto message for more than a week after it was read. On 
the 4th of April the Civil Rights Bill came up to be recon- 
sidered, the question being, " Shall the bill pass, the objections of 
the President notwithstanding." 

It devolved upon Mr. Trumbull, the author of the bill, to 
answer the objections of the President. In answer to the Presi- 
dent's position that the bill conferred only Federal citizenship, 
and did not give any status as citizens of States, Mr. Trumbull 
said: ''Is it true that when a person becomes a citizen of the 
United States he is not also a citizen of every State where he 
may happen to be? On this point I will refer to a decision 
pronounced by the Supreme Court of the United States, de- 
livered by Chief-Justice Marshall, the most eminent jurist who 
ever sat upon an American bench. In the case of Gassies vs. 



2S4 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

Ballon, reported in <i Peter-, the Chief-Justice, in delivering the 

opinion of the court, says : 

'"The defendant in error i- alleged in the pr edinge to - itizen of 

the United Si naturalized in Louisiana, and residing This 

is equivalent to an averment that he is a citizen of thai State. 

/ ... 

The message declared "thai the right of Federal citizenship is 
now for the firs! time proposed to 1"- given by law." "This," 
said Mr. Trumbull, "is not a misapprehension of the law, but a 
mistake in fact, as will appear by references to which I shall 
call the attention of the Semite."' Mr. Trumbull then referred 
to the "collective naturalization" of citizens of Louisiana, 
Texas, and Cherokees, Choctaw, and Stockbridge Indian-. 

To the remark in the message thai "if, as many claim, native- 
born persons are already citizens of the United States, this bill 
can not be necessary to make them such," Mr. Trumbull replied: 
" An act declaring what the law is, is one of the most common 
of acts known by legislative bodies. When there is any question 
as to what the law is, and for greater certainty, it i- the most 
common thing in the world to pass a statute declaring it." 

To the objection that eleven State.- were unrepresented, the 
Senator replied: "This is a standing objection in all the veto 
messages, yet the President has signed some forty bills. If there 
is any thing in this objection, no l>ill can pass Congress till the 
Smto are represented here. Sir, whose fault is it that eleven 
States are not represented? By what fault of their- is it that 
twenty-five loyal States which have stood by this Union and by 
the Constitution arc to be deprived of their righl to legislate? 

[f the reason assigned is a g 1 one now. it ha- been a good one 

all the time for the last five years. It' the fact that -nine States 
have rebelled against the Government is to take from the Gov- 
ernment the right to legislate, then the criminal is to take ad- 
vantage of his crime; the innocent are to be punished for the 
Uiiiltv. 

" Bui the President tells us that 'the bill, in effect, proposes ;i 
discrimination against large numbers of intelligent, worthy, and 
patriotic foreigners, and in favor of the negro. 5 Is that true? 

What is the bill? It declare- that there shall be no distinction 
in civil rights between any other race or color and the white race. 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 255 

It declares that there shall be no different punishment inflicted 
on a colored man in consequence of his color than thai which is 
inflicted on a white man for the same offense. Is that a dis- 
crimination in favor of the negro and against the foreigner — a 
bill the «»nlv effect of which is to preserve equality of rights? 

"But perhaps it may be replied to this that the bill proposes 
to make a citizen of every person born in the United States, and, 
therefore, it discriminates in that respect against the foreigner. 
Not so; foreigners arc all upon the same footings whether black 
or white. The white child who is born in the United States a 
citizen is not to be presumed at its birth to be the equal in- 
tellectually with the worthy, intelligent, and patriotic foreigner 
who emigrates to this country. And, as is suggested by a 
Senator behind me, even the infant child of a foreigner born 
in this land is a citizen of the United States long before his 
father. Is this, therefore, a discrimination against foreigners '? 

" The President also has an objection to the making citizens of 
Chinese and Gypsies. I am told that but few Chinese are born 
in this country, and where the Gypsies are born, I never knew. 
[Laughter.] Like Topsy, it is questionable, whether they were 
born at all, but 'just come.' [Laughter.] 

" But, sir, perhaps the best answer to this objection that the bill 
proposes to make citizens of Chinese and Gypsies, and this refer- 
ence to the foreigners, is to be found in a speech delivered in this 
body by a Senator occupying, I think, the seat now occupied 
across the chamber by my friend from Oregon, [Mr. AVilliams,] 
less than six years ago, in reply to a message sent to this body by 
Mr. Buchanan, the then President of the United States, return- 
ing, with his objections, what was known as the Homestead Bill. 
On that occasion the Senator to whom I allude said : 

" 'But this idea about "poor foreigners," somehow or other, bewilders and 
haunts the imagination of a great many. * * 

•■ • T am constrained to say that I look upon this objection to the bill as a 
mere quibble on the part of the President, and as being hard-pressed for 
some excuse in withholding his approval of the measure: and his allusion 
to foreigners in this connection looks to me more like the ad captandum of 
the mere politician or demagogue, than a grave and sound reason to he 
offered by the President of the United States in a veto message upon so im- 
portant a measure as the Homstead Bill.' 

"That was the language of Senator Andrew Johnson, now 



QoG THE Tl1UrrY-.XI.XTll QOKGRESS. 

President of the United States. [Laughter.] That is probably 
the best answer to this ol i, though I should hardly have 

ventured to use such harsh language in reference to the President 
as to accuse hi f quibbling and of demagoguery, and of play- 
ing the mere politician in sending a veto ok to the < longress 
of the United States." 

The President had urged an objection that if Congress could 
confer civil rights upon persons without regard to color or race, 
it might also confer upon them political rights, and among them 
thai of suffrage. In reply to this, Mr. Trumbull referred to the 
policy of the President himself in undertaking to "reorganize 
State governments in the disloyal States." He "claimed and 
exercised the power to protect colored persons in their civil 
rights," and yet, when "urged to allow loyal blacks to vote," he 
held that "he had no power; it was unconstitutional." 

"But, sir," continued Mr. Trumbull, "the granting of civil 
rights does not and never did, in this country, carry with it rights, 
or, more properly speaking, political privileges. A man may be 
a citizen in this country without a right to vote or without a 
ri<dit to hold office. The right to vote and hold office in the 
States depends upon the legislation of the various States; the 
right to hold certain offices under the Federal Government de- 
pends upon the Constitution of the United States. The Presi- 
dent must be a natural-born citizen, and a Senator or Representa- 
tive musl be a citizen of the United States for a certain number 
of years before he is eligible to a seat either in this or the other 
House of Congress; so that the tact of being a citizen does not 
necessarily qualify a person for an office, nor does it necessarily 
authorize him to vote. Women are citiz.cn> ; children are citizen.- ; 
hut they do not exercise the elective franchise by virtue of their 
citizenship. Foreigners, a- is stated by the President in this 
message, before they arc naturalized are protected in the rights 

enumerated in this bill, but because they possess those rights in 

most, if not all, the State.-, that carries with it no right to vote 

" But, Bir, what rights do citizens of the United States have? 
To be a citizen of the United States carries with it some rights, 
and what arc they? They are those inherent, fundamental rights 

which belong to free citizen- or free men in all countries, such as 

the rights enumerated in this bill, and they belong to them in all 

the Stales of the \ 'nion. The right of American citizenship means 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 257 

something. It does not mean, in the case of a foreigner, that when 
lie is naturalized he is to be left entirely to the mercy of State 
legislation. He has a right, when duly naturalized, to go into any 
State of the Union, and to reside there, and the United States 
Government will protect him in that right. It will protect a 
citizen of the United States, not only in one of the States of tin 
Union, but it will protect him in foreign lands. 

" Every person residing in the United States is entitled to the 
protection of that law by the Federal Government, because the 
Federal Government has jurisdiction of such questions. Ameri- 
can citizenship would be little worth if it did not carry protection 

with it. 

" How is it that every person born in these United States owes 
allegiance to the Government? Every thing that he is or has, 
his property and his life, may be taken by the Government of the 
United States in its defense, or to maintain the honor of the nation. 
And can it be that our ancestors struggled through a long war and 
set up this Government, and that the people of our day have strug- 
gled through another war, with all its sacrifices and all its desola- 
tion, to maintain it, and at last that we have got a Government 
which is all-powerful to command the obedience of the citizen, 
but has no power to afford him protection? Is that all that tins 
boasted American citizenship amounts to ? Go tell it, sir, to the 
father whose son was starved at Andersonville ; or the widow 
whose husband was slain at Mission Ridge; or the little boy who 
leads his sightless father through the streets of your city, made 
blind by the winds and the sand of the Southern coast ; or the 
thousand other mangled heroes to be seen on every side, that this 
Government, in defense of which the son and the husband fell, the 
father lost his eyes, and the others were crippled, had the right to 
call these persons to its defense, but has no right to protect the 
survivors or their friends in any right whatever in any of the 
States. Sir, it can not be. Such is not the meaning of our Con- 
stitution. Such is not the meaning of American citizenship. This 
Government, which would go to war to protect its meanest — I will 
not say citizen — inhabitant, if you please, in any foreign land, 
wdiose rights were unjustly encroached upon, has certainly some 
power to protect its own citizens in their own country. Allegiance 
and protection are reciprocal rights." 

To the President's objection to the second section of the bill, 
17 



THE TIlJniY-.YJ.YTIl COXGRESS. 

that it discriminated in favor of colored persons, Mr. Trumbull 
replied: "II . in effect, that no one shall subject a colored 

person to a different punishment than that inflicted on a white 
person for the same offense. Does thai discriminate in favor of 
the colored person? Why. sir, the very object and effect of the 
tiou is to prevent discrimination, and language, it seems to me, 
could not more plainly express that object and effect. It may be 
said that it is for the benefit of the black man. because he is qow, 
in some instances, discriminated against by State laws; but that 
i- the case with all remedial statutes. They are for the relief of 
the persons who need the relief, not for the relief of those who have 
the right already ; and when those needing the relief obtain it, they 
stand upon the precise footing of those who do not need the bem 
of the law." 

The President had further objected to this section, that " it pro- 
vides for counteracting such forbidden legislation by imposing fine 
and imprisonment upon the legislators who may pass such con- 
flicting laws." 

•• Let us see," said Mr. Trumbull, " it' that is the language or 
tlif proper construction of the section. I will read again the first 
line- <>t' it. It declares ' that any person who, under color of any 
law. ordinance, regulation, or custom, -hall subject, or c be 

subjected, etc., :;: * * shall be punished, 5 

•• Who is to be punished? Is the law to be punished? Are 
the men who make the law to be punished? I.- that the lan- 
guage of the bill'.' Not at all. If any person, ' under color of 
any law,' .-hall subject another to the deprivation of a right to 
which he is entitled, he is to be punished. Who? The person 
who, under the color of the law, doe- the act, not thf men who 
made the law. In some communities in the South a custom pre- 
vails by which different punishment i- inflicted upon the blacks 
from that meted out to white- tin- the same offense. Does this 
section propose to punish the community where the custom pre- 
vails? or is it to punish the person who, under color of the 
custom, deprives the party of his right? It is a manifest per- 
version of the meaning of the section to assert any thing elf 

■• But it i< said that under this provision indue- of the courts 
and ministerial officers who are engaged in execution of any such 

BtatuteS may be punished, and that is made an objection to this 
bill. 1 admit that a ministerial officer or a judge, it' he act- cor- 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 

ruptly or viciously in the execution or under color of an ill 
act, may be and ought to be punished; but if he acted innocently, 

the judge would not be punished. Sir, what is a erime? It is 
a violation of some public law, to constitute which there must be 
an act, and a vicious will in doing the act; or, according to the 
definition in some of the law-books, to constitute a crime there 
must be a violation of a publie law, in the commission of which 
there must be a union or joint operation of act and intent, or 
criminal negligence; and a judge who acted innocently, and not 
viciously or oppressively, would never be convicted under this act. 
But, sir, if he acted knowingly, viciously, or oppressively, in dis- 
regard of a law of the United States, I repeat, he ought to be 
punished, and it is no anomaly to prescribe a punishment in such 
a case. Very soon after the organization of this Government, in 
the first years of its existence, the Congress of the United States 
provided for punishing officers who, under color of State law, 
violated the laws of the United States." 

Mr. Trumbull then read from an act of Congress passed in 
1790, providing for the punishment of certain offenses against 
foreign ministers, and said : " By this provision all officers exe- 
cuting any process in violation of the laws of the United States 
are to be subject to a much longer imprisonment than is provided 
by this bill. 

" But, sir, there is another answer, in my judgment, more con- 
clusive, to all these objections to this second section, which is the 
vital part of the bill. Without it, it would scarcely be worth the 
paper on which the bill is written. A law without a penalty, 
without a sanction, is of little value to any body. What good 
does it do for .the Legislature to say, 'Do this, and forbear to do 
that,' if no consequence is to follow the act of disobedience? 
This is the vitality of the bill. What is the objection that is 
made to it, and which seems even to hav staggered some friends 
of the measure? It is because it reads in the firsl section that 
any person who, 'under color of law,' shall commit these offenses, 
shall be subject to the penalties of the law. Suppose those word 
had been left out, and the bill read, ' any person who shall subject 
any inhabitant of a State to different punishment by reason of dis- 
color shall be punished/ would there have been any objection t<j 
the bill then? That is the way most criminal laws read. That 
is the way the law punishing conspiracies against the Government 



s 



THE Til riril-.YI.YTH CONGRES& 

reads. It* two or more persons conspir ther to overthrow 

tin- Government, or by force \<< resist it- authority, tiny are lia- 
ble to indictment, and, upon conviction, t<> imprisonment in the 
penitentiary ami to heavy tine Would the tact that the persons 

_ iged in the conspiracy were judges or governors or minister- 
ial officers, acting under color of any statute or custom, screen 
thrm from punishment? Surely not. 

"The words 'under color of" law' were inserted as words of 
limitation, and m>t for the purpose of punishing persons who 
would not have been subject to punishment under the act if they 
had been omitted. Lt' an offense i- committed against a colored 
person simply because he is colored, in a State where the law 
affords him the same protection as it' Ik- were white, this act 
neither has nor was intended to have any thing to do with his 

-. because he has adequate remedies in the State courts; but 
it' he is discriminated against, under color of State laws, because 
he is colored, then it becomes necessary to interfere for hi- pro- 
tection. 

'•The assumption that State judges and other officials are not 
to he held responsible for violations of United State- law- when 
done under color of State statutes or customs is akin to the 
maxim of the English law that the king- can do no wrong. It 
places officials above the law; it is the very doctrine out of which 
the rebellion was hatched. 

•• 1 Airy thing that was done by that wicked effort to overturn 
our Government was done under color of law. The rebels in- 
sisted that they had a right to -,-,cde; they passed ordinances of 
-ion, tiny set up State governments, and all that they did 
was under color of law. And if parties committing these high 
crimes are to go i'rr>- because they acted under color of law, wh\ 

i- not Jeff. l>avi- ami every other rebel chief discharged at once? 

Why did this country put forth all its resources of men and 
money to put down the rebellion against the authority of the 
Government except it had a right to do so, even as against thos< 

who were acting under color of law? Lee, with his rebel horde.-, 
thundering upon the outskirts of this very city, was acting un- 
der color of law ; every judge who has held a court in the South- 
ern State- for the la-t four year-, and ha- tried and convicted of 
treason men guilty of no other offense than loyalty to the Union, 
acted under color of law. 



CIVIL EIGHTS BILL. 201 

"Sir, if we had authority by the use of the army and the war 
power to put down rebels acting under color of law, I put the 
question to every lawyer, if we had not authority to do that 
through the courts and the judicial tribunals if it had been prac- 
ticable? Suppose it had been practicable, through the marshals, 
to arrest the Legislature which convened at Montgomery, and 
undertook to take the State of Alabama out of the Union and 
set up a government in hostility thereto, ought it not to have 
been done'.' Was not that a conspiracy against this Government'/ 
When the Legislature assembled at Montgomery in l<S(il, and 
resolved that the connection between Alabama and the United 
States was dissolved, and when its members took steps to main- 
tain that declaration; when the same thing was done in South 
Carolina, and courts were organized to carry out the scheme, will 
any body tell me it would not have been competent, had it been 
practicable, for the LTnited States courts in those States to have 
issued process for the arrest of every one of those legislators, gov- 
ernors, judges, and all. And, sir, had this been done, and it had 
turned out upon trial that any of the parties arrested had been 
engaged in armed hostility against the United States, as some 
of them had been when, with arms in their hands, they seized 
the arsenals and other public property of the United States, would 
they not have been found guilty of treason and hung for treason'.' 
and would the fact that they had acted under color of law have • 
afforded them any protection?" 

The President, in his Veto Message, had said, "I do not ap- 
prehend that the conflicting legislation which the bill seems to 
contemplate is so likely to occur as to render it necessary, at this 
time, to adopt a measure of such doubtful constitutional it v." 

" That statement," replied Mr. Trumbull, " makes it necessary 
that I should advert to the facts and show whether there is any 

m. 

likelihood of such conflicting legislation; and my testimony comes 
from the President himself, or those acting under his authority. ** 
After having referred to legislative enactments of several of 
the Southern States very oppressive to the colored people, Mr. 
Trumbull remarked: "Now, sir, what becomes of this declara- 
tion that there is no necessity tor any measure of this kind'.' 
Here are the laws of Texas, of Mississippi, of Virginia, to 
which I have referred ; and law- equally oppressive <'\i-t in 
some of the other States. Is there no necessity to protect a 



THE THIRTY-NINTH COJfGR 

freedman when lie is Liable to be whipped if caught away 
from home? no necessity to protect a freedtnan in hia rights 
when he is nol permitted to hold or lease a pi :' ground in 

no necessity to proteci a freedman in his Is, who 

will be reduced to a slavery worse than that from which lie 
has been emancipated it' a law is permitted to rried into 

effect? Sir. these orders emanate and this information • 
from officers acting by presidential authority, and yet th Pi 
at tells us there is no danger of conflicting legislation." 
After having answered other objections of th< Mr. 

Trumbull said: " I have now gone through this Vet > Messs 
replying with what patience I could command to its various ob- 
tiona to the bill. Would that 1 could stop here, that there 
was no occasion to go further; but justice to myself, justice to the 
te who.-c representative I am, justice to the people of the whole 
mtry, in legislation for whose behalf 1 am called to participate, 
justice to the Constitution I am -worn to support, justice to the 
rights o!' Ajnerican citizenship it secures, and to human liberty, 
now imperiled, require me to go further. Gladly would 1 re- 
frain speaking of the spirit of this message, of the dangerous 
d (ctrines it promulgates, of the inconsistencies and contradictio 
of its author, of his encroachments upon the constitutional rights 
of Congress, of hi- assumption of unwarranted powers, which, it 

i persevered in and not checked by the ) pie, must eventually lea 1 

to a subversion of the Government and the destruction of liberty. 
"Congress, in the passage of the bill under consideration, sought 
no controversy with the President. So far from it, the bill was 
proposed with a view to carry out what were supposed to be the 
views of the President, and was submitted to him : its in- 

troduction in the Senate. 1 am not about to relate private di 
larations of the President, but it is right that the American p 
pie should know that the controvers) which en him 

and Congress in reference to this measure is of his own seeking. 
Soon after Congress met, it became apparent that there was a 
difference of opinion between the President and - einbera 

( , ,■ j g :. . ,rd to the coudition of the rcbelliou md 

rhts to be secured to fre 
"The President, in his annual message, had d ;.'■ d the consti- 
tutional power of the General Government to extend the elective 
Qchise to negroes, bul he was equally decided in ion 



civil mains hill. 263 

of the right of every man to life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
happiness. This was his language : 

"'But while I have no doubt that now. after the close of the war. it is 
not competent for the General Government to extend the elective franchise 
in the several States, it is equally clear that good faith requires the security 
of tlu- freedmen in their liberty and their property.' 

"There were some members of Congress who expressed the 
opinion that in the reorganization of the rebellious States the 
right of suffrage should be extended to the colored man, though 
this wa< not the prevailing sentiment of Congress. All were 
anxious for a reorganization of the rebellious States, and their 
admission to full participation in the Federal Government as soon 
as these relations could be restored with safety to all concerned. 
Feeling the importance of harmonious action between the differ- 
ent departments of the Government, and an anxious desire to 
sustain the President, for whom I had always entertained the 
highest respect, I had frequent interviews with him during the 
early part of the session. Without mentioning any thing said by 
him, I may with propriety state that, acting from the considera- 
tions I have stated, and believing that the passage of a law by 
Congress, securing equality in civil rights to freedmen and all 
other inhabitants of the United States, when denied by State 
authorities, would do much to relieve anxiety in the North, to 
induce the Southern States to secure these rights by their own 
action, and thereby remove many of the obstacles to an early re- 
construction, I prepared the bill substantially as it is now re- 
turned with the President's objections. After the bill was intro- 
duced and printed, a copy was furnished him, and at a subsequent 
period, when it was reported that he was hesitating about sign- 
ing the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, he was informed of the condition 
of the Civil Rights Bill then pending in the House, and a hop- 
expressed that if he had objections to any of its provisions 
would make them known to it- friends, that they might be rem- 
edied, if not destructive of the measure; that there was believed 
to be no disposition on the part of Congress, and certainly none 
on my part, to have bills presented to him which he could not 
approve. He never indicated to me, nor. so tar as I know, 
any of it- friends, the least objection to any of the provisions of 
the bill till after its passage. And how could he, consistently 



j/;.; THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

with himself? The bill was framed, as was supposed, in entire 
harmony with his views, and certainly in harmony with what he 
was then and has since been doing in protecting freedmen in their 
civil rights all through the rebellious States. It was strictly lim- 
ited to the protection of the civil rights belonging to every free- 
man, the birthright of every American citizen, and carefully 
avoided conferring or interfering with political rights or priv- 
ileges of any kind. 

* * * * "If the bill now before us, and which 

es no further than to secure civil rights to the freedman, ran 

n<.t be passed, then the constitutional amendment proclaiming 

freedom to all the inhabitants of the land is a cheal and a 

delusion. 

•• | ran not better conclude what I have to say than in the 
language of Mr. Johnson on the occasion of the veto of the 
Homestead Bill, when, after stating that the fact that the Presi- 
dent was inconsistent and changed his opinion with reference 
to a greal measure ami a great principle, is no reason why a 
Senator or Representative, who has acted understanding^, should 
change hi- opinion. He said : 

••■I hope tin- Senate and Bouse of Representatives, who have sanctioned 
this bill by more than a two-thirds majority, will, according t<> the Consti- 
tution, exercise their privilege and power, and let the bill become a law ol 
the land, according t<> the high behest of the American people. 1 ' 

On the next day, April 5th, Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, made 
a speech sustaining the Veto Message. He argued that negn 
were not citizens ol' the United States by reason of their birth in 
the United States, and that Congress had no authority by law to 
declare them such. 'To sustain Ins position, he made quotations 
from the opinion of the minority in the Dred Scott case, as ren- 
dered by Mr. Justice Curtis. He then proceeded to reply to 
some of Mr. Trumbull's arguments against the Veto Message: 
•••["he honorable member from Illinois disposes of the President's 
objection to the first section of this bill by saying that it i- 
merelv declaratory. I know it i> competent for any legislative 
body, on a question where difference of opinions exist in relation 
to any legal proposition, to remove them by declaratory legisla- 
tion : hut that is not the purpose of tlii- bill. It professes to he 
passed in the exercise of a positive and absolute power to change 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 265 

the law — not to declare what the law was in order to remove 
doubts, but to make the law. Jt assumes, or otherwise there 
would be no occasion for ir, that birth alone does not confer 
citizenship j and assuming that no citizenship would exist in con- 
sequence of birth alone, it declares that birth alone, in spite of 
State constitution and State laws, shall confer citizenship. Now, 
with all deference to the opinion of the honorable Chairman of 
the Committee on the Judiciary, that seems to me to be a propo- 
sition as clearly erroneous as any proposition can be in relation 
to constitutional law. The States were sovereign before the ( in- 
stitution was adopted; and the Constitution not only, according 
to its very terms, does not profess to confer upon the Government 
of the United States all governmental power, but as far as Con- 
gress is concerned, professes to confer upon that department of 
the Government only the particular delegated powers there enum- 
erated; but so anxious were the framers of that instrument and 
the great men of that day, to whom the subsequent organization 
of this Government was left, that although they had no doubt as 
to the principle that only the delegated powers were granted, (and 
the debates in the Convention itself as well as the debates in the 
conventions of the several States, when the Constitution was be- 
fore them for adoption or rejection, all went upon the theory that 
no powers were conferred except such as were expressly granted, or 
as were reasonably implied to be as necessary to carry out the pow- 
ers expressly granted,) by the tenth amendment adopted recently 
after the Constitution went into operation, and recommended by 
the men, many of whom were the framers of the Constitution 
itself, that the powers not delegated by the Constitution, and not 
denied to the States by the same instrument, were to be considered 
reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. 

"Standing, therefore, as well upon the nature of the Govern- 
ment itself, as a Government of enumerated powers specially dele- 
gated, as upon the express provision that every thing not granted 
was to be considered as remaining with the States unless the ( in- 
stitution contained some particular prohibition of any power before 
belonging to the States, what doubt can there be that if a Stair 
possessed the power to declare who should be her citizens before 
the Constitution was adopted that power remains now as absolute 
and as conclusive as it was when the Constitution was adopted? 
The bill, therefore, changes the whole theory of the Government. 



266 Till: THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 



« r \ 



The I': sident, then, I think, is right. I go further than he 
does. I! expresses a doubt whether Congress has the power; I 
affirm, with all deference to the better judgment of the majority 
of the Senate who voted for the bill, and to that of the honorable 
Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, that it is perfectly 
clear that no such power exists in Cong - the one attempted 

to be exercised by the first section. I hold, with Mr. Justice 
Curtis— and his opinion to this day has never been questioned — 
that citizenship of the United States consequent upon birth in a 

State i- t<> depend upon the feet whether th< nstitution ami 

laws <>1* th - make the party so born a citizen <>!' the State. 

•• But that i- not all. This first section has another provision. 
Not satisfied with making the parties citizens and clothing them 
with all the rights belonging to white citizens by the laws of the 
States, ii 'hat they '-hall he subject to like punishment, 

pains and penalties, and to nun,' other.' That invades the juris- 
diction of the Stat.- over their criminal code. Congress assui 
to define a crime, and defining a crime gives to it- own court- ex- 
clusive jurisdiction over the crime and the party charged with 
perpetration. It strikes at the criminal code of the States. The 
result, therefore, of the three provisions in this section i-. that 
contrary t<. State constituti 'id State laws, it converts a man 

that is not a citizen of a State into a citizen of the State; it gives 
him all the rights that belong t" a citizen of the State; and it 
provides that his punishment shall only he such as the State laws 
impose upon white citizens. Where i- the authority to do that? 
If ;, ii is -till more obvious that the result is an entire 

annihilation of the power of the States. It seems to be the fash- 
ion of thi hour — I do not know that my houorable friend from 
Ulinois goes to that extent— to hold to the doctrine that the 

■iter every thing is vested in the Government of the United 
States th r I'm' the country. It is a perilous delusion. If 

such a proposition laid been supposed to he found any where in 
the ( onstitution «»f the United State-, it never would have been 
adopted b) the people; and if it is assumed, or if it is considered 
a- constitutionally existing by virtue of some power not before 
known, the Government will not lasl half a century. 1 have not 
tin,,, to r ad fr an the writings of Mr. Madison and M r. i tamilton 
and the decisions of the Supreme < 'ourt <>n the question. 

■ • Bui j a, Mr. President, know very well that consolidation 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 267 

of power in the Government of the United States was looked 
upon as certain ruin to republican institutions. In the first 
place, it would be sure to result in arnarchy ; and in tin' second 
place, in order to be saved from the horrors of anarchy, we should 
be compelled to take refuge in despotic power, and the days of 
constitutional liberty would soon be numbered. The doubt then 
was, and the doubt now should be more firmly settled in the pub- 
lie mind, that a country as extensive as that of the United States 
can not exist except by means of divided sovereignties; one sov- 
ereignty having charge of all external matters, or matter- between 
the States to which the powers of the States are inadequate; the 
other sovereignties having power over all internal matters to the 
management of which they are adequate. Despotism would soon 
be our fate, preceded by anarchy; the military chieftain instead 
of being looked upon, as he should be by every republican, with 
alarm and concern, would be hailed as a savior in order to save 
us from the horrors of disorganization. 

"The honorable member referred to the act of 1790, but it 
relates entirely to different subjects, and all the statutes to which 
he adverted are statutes of the same description. What is the 
twenty-sixth section of the act of 1790 to which he referred? 
The preceding section provided that no one should sue a foreign 
minister, and the section to which my friend referred particularly, 
said that if a party did sue a foreign minister he should be liable 
to be punished. Certainly ; but why ? Because the Government 
of the United States was vested with the exclusive authority in 
all cases depending upon the law of nations; and the law of na- 
tions saving from responsibility embassadors accredited to the 
United States, for civil debts, he who attempted to interfere 
offended against the Government, and he offended in relation to 
a subject exclusively committed to the General Government. The 
power, therefore, which Congress exerted in the particular legis- 
lation to which the honorable member reverted is just the power 
which they exert when they provide for the punishment of any 
man who counterfeits the currency of the United State-, or forges 
its paper, or forge- it- bonds, or interferes with the administration 
of the Post-office Department. These are all powers incidental 
to the possession of tin; express power, and in the case to which 
he adverted the express power was one necessarily belonging to 
the Government, because it was a power belonging to and regu- 



77/ /•; 77/ / /,' T ) '-. \ 7. YTII COJ\ G R ESS. 

lated by the law of nations, an<l not by any municipal regu- 
lation. 

"The honorable member from Illinois tells us that the Presi- 
dent's objection, that there are eleven States not now represented, 
is entitled to no consideration whatever. The honorable member 
seems to suppose that the President adverted to the feci that there 
were eleven States not represented as showing that Congress pos- 
sessed no constitutional authority to legislate upon the subject, 
supposing that they would have had the authority if those States 
were represented. That is nol the view taken by the President ; 
it is an entire misapprehension of the doctrine of the President 
He says no such thing, and be intimates no such thing. But as- 
suming, what in another part of the message he denies, that the 
authority might be considered as existing, he submits as a question 
of policy whether it is right to change the whole domestic econ- 
omy of those eleven States, in the absence of any representation 
upon this floor from them. My honorable friend asks whose 
fault it is that they are not represented. Why are they not here? 
He says their hands are reeking with the blood of loyal men; 
that they are unable to take the oath which a statute that he as- 
sumes to be constitutional has provided; ami he would have the 
country and the Senate to believe that that is the reason why they 
are m»t here, [s that the fact, Mi-. President? These States are 
organized, and how organized? What have they done'.' They 
have abolished slavery by an astonishing unanimity: they have 
abolished nearly all the distinctions which antecedently existed 
between the two races. They have permitted the negroes to. sue. 
they have permitted them to testify; they have not yet permitted 

them to vote. 

" Why ure they not received? Because, in the judgment of the 
Senate, before the State- can !»■ considered as restored, Congress- 
ional legislation on the subject is necessary. W hose fault is it 
that there ha- not been Congressional legislation? 1- it the fault 
of the eleven States? Certainly not; it is our own fault. And 
whv i- it that we are in point of (act delaying their admission, 
whether it i- to he considered a- a fault or not".' Because we 
want to inquire into the condition of these State-. Why. in the 
name of Heaven! how long have we been here".' We came here 
early in December, and this is the month of April ; and here we 
may remain until July, or. as rumor has it, until next December; 



CIVIL INCUTS BILL. 269 

and shall wo bo satisfied within that time that Congressional leg- 
islation may be safely adopted ? 

"I have a word or two more to say. My honorable friend 
from Illinois, as it seemed to me — his nature is impulsive, and 
perhaps he was carried further than he intended — seemed to in- 
timate that the President of the United States had not acted 
sincerely in this matter; that his usurpation Mas a clear one, 
and that he was to be censured for that usurpation. What has 
he done? He has vetoed this bill. He had a constitutional right 
to do so. Not only that ; if he believed that the effect of the bill 
would be that which he states in his Veto Message, lie was not only 
authorized but bound to veto it. His oath is to ' preserve ' as 
well as to 'protect and defend' the Constitution of the United 
States; and believing, as he does, and in that opinion I concur, 
that this bill assails the Constitution of the United States, he 
would have been false to his plighted faith if he had not returned 
it with his objections. 

" He desires — and who does not ? — that the Union shall be re- 
stored as it originally existed. He has a policy which he thinks 
is best calculated to effect it. He may be mistaken, but he is 
honest. Congress may differ with him. I hope they will agree 
sooner or later, because I believe, as I believe in my existence, 
that the condition in which the country now is can not remain 
without producing troubles that may shake our reputation, not 
only in our own eyes, but in the eyes of the civilized world. Let 
the dav come when we shall be again together, and then, forget- 
ting the past, hailing the present, and looking forward to the 
future, we shall remember, if we remember the past at all, for 
the exhibition of valor and gallantry displayed on both sides. 
and find in it, when we become one, a guarantee that in the fu- 
ture no foreign hostilities are to be dreaded, and that no civil 
discord need be apprehended." 

Mr." Trumbull said : " The opinion of Judge Curtis, from which 
the Senator read, was the opinion of a dissenting judge, entitled 
to very great credit on account of the learning and ability of that 
judge, but it was not the opinion of the court, and an examina- 
tion of the entire opinion, which is very lengthv, would perhaps 
not sustain the precise principles the Senator from Maryland laid 
down. But, sir, I have another authority which I think of equal 
weight with that of Judge Curtis — not pronounced in a judicial 



270 THE THIRTY-NINTH COJfGI 

tribunal it is true, but by one of the mosi eminent members of 
the bar in this nation; I may say by a gentleman who stands 
at tli.' head of the bar in America at this tim< — an opinion pro- 
nounced, too, in the exercise of official duties; and I propose to 
read a feu sentences from that opinion, for it is to be found re- 
ported in the Congressional Globe containing the proceedings of 
this body less than ninety days ago. This is the language: 

While they [negi s] were slaves, it was a very different qui but 

i'iuw, when slavery i- terminated, and by terminating it you 
tin- only obstacle in the way of citizenship, two quesi irise: fin 

Whether that fact itself does oot make them citizens? Befort they w< 
not citizens, because of slavery, and only because of slavery. Slavery abol- 
ished, why arc they nut just as much citizens as they would have been had 
slavery never existed'.'' My opinion is that they become citizens, and I hold 
that opinion so Btrongly that 1 should consider it unnecessary to legisl 
on the Bubject at all. as far as that elasv is concerned, but for the ruling of 
tlu- Supreme Court, to which 1 have adverted. 

"Sir, thai opinion was held by the honorable Senator from Ma- 
ryland who made this speech to-day. He holds the opinion so 
strongly now that slavery is abolished, which was the onlv obsta- 
ele in the wav of their being citizens, that he would want no legisla- 
tion on the subject but for the 1 )vti\ Scott decision ! What further 
did the Senator from Maryland say less than ninety daysago? It is 
possible, doubtless — it is not only possible but it is certainly true — 
that the Senator from Maryland, by reading the conclusive argu- 
ments of the Veto Message in regard to Chinese and Gypsies, has 
discovered that he was in error ninety days ago. 1 by no means 
mean to impute any wrong motive to the Senator from Maryland, 
hut simply t<» ask that he will pardon me if 1 have not been able 
to see the conclusive reasoning of the Veto Me--: a 

Athr quoting still further from Mr. Johnson's speech, made on 
a previous occasion, Mr. Trumbull said: " But as I am up. I will 
refer to one other point to which the Senator alluded, and that i< 
in regard to the quotation which 1 made yesterday from the stat- 
ute of 17:»". 1 quoted that statute for the purpose of showing 
that the provisions in the hill under consideration, which it was 
insisted allowed the punishment of ministerial officers and judj 
who should a.t in obedience to State laws and undercolor of Si 

law-, were nut anomalous. 1 read a statute of L790 to show that 

the Congress of the United States, at that day, provided tor pun- 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 271 

ishing both judges and officers who acted under color of State law 
in defiance of a law of the United States. How does the Senator 
answer that? He says that was on a different subject ; the law 
of 1790 provided for punishing judges and officers who did an 
aet in violation of the international law, jurisdiction over which is 
conferred upon the nation. Let me ask the Senator from Mary- 
land, if the bill under discussion does not provide for the punish- 
ment of persons who violate a right secured by the Constitution 
of the United States? Is a right which a citizen holds by virtue 
of the Constitution of his country less sacred than a right which 
he holds by virtue of international law ? " 

Mr. Johnson replied -as follows: "It is singular, in my esti- 
mation, how a gentleman with a mind as clear as Mr. Trum- 
bull's, with a perspicacity that is a little surprising, could have 
fallen into the 'error of supposing that there is any inconsistency 
between the doctrine contained in the speech to which he has ad- 
verted and the one which I have mantained to-day. What I 
said then I say now, that as for as the United States are con- 
cerned, all persons born within the limits of the United States are 
to be considered as citizens, and that without reference to the color 
or the race ; and after the abolition of slavery the negro would 
stand precisely in the condition of the white man. But the hon- 
orable member can hardly fail, I think — certainly he can not 
when I call his attention to it — to perceive that that has noth- 
ing to do with the question now before the Senate. His bill 
makes them citizens of the United States because of birth, and 
gives them certain rights within the States." 

Mr. Fessenden asked: "Were not your remarks made on this 
very question in this bill ? " 

" No," replied Mr. Johnson ; " on another bill." He continued : 
"What T maintain is this — and T have never doubted it, because 
I entertained the same opinion when I made those remarks that 
I entertain now — that citizen-hip of the United State-, in conse- 
quence of birth, does not make a party a citizen of the State in 
which he is born unless the Constitution and laws of the State 
recognize him as a citizen. Now, what does this bill propose? 
All born within the United States are to be considered citizens 
of the United States, and as such shall have in every State all 
the rights that belong to any body else in the State as far as the 
particular subjects stated in the bill are concerned. Now, I did 



77/ /•; 77/ / 1; r )--.\ ■/. \ • rir C0J\ '< ; n ESS. 

suppose, and I shall continue to suppose, it to be clear, unless I 
am met with the almost paramount authority of the Chairman of 
the Judiciary Committee, thai citizenship, by way of birth, con- 
ferred "ii the party as far as he and the I nited States were con- 
cerned, is ii"t a citizenship which entitle- him to the privilege of 
citizenship within the State where he is born; if it be true, and 
I submil that it is true beyond all <l<>ul>t. that over the question 
State citizenship the authority of the State Government is 
supreme. 

•• Now, the honorable member is counfounding the status of a 
citizen of the United States and the status of a citizen of the 
United States who as such is a citizen of the State of his resi- 
dence. Maintaining, as I do, that then' is n<> authority to make 
any body n citizen of the United State- so as to convert him 
therein- into a citizen <>t' a State, there is no authority in the 
Constitution for this particular bill, which says that because he 
is a citizen of the United States he i- to be considered a citizen 
of any State in which he may bo at any time with reference to 
the rights conferred by this bill. 

Mr. Trumbull replied: " I desire simply to remark that the 
speech from which I quoted, made by theSenator from Maryland, 
was made upon this very bill. It was in reference to this bill 
that lie was speaking when he laid down the proposition that 
every person born in the United States since the abolition of 
slavery was a citizen of the United States, and it' there was any 
doubt about it, it was proper for us to declare them so, and not 
only proper, but our duty to do so; and to make the matter 
specific, the honorable Senator voted for this proposition, which 
1 will now read, on the yea- and nay-: 

■All persons born in the United Starr-, and not subject to any lorei^n 
Power, excluding Indiana doI taxed, ;iv hereby declared to be citizens of 
tin' United States, without distinction of col 

"Upon the adoption of that proposition as an amendment, it 
n<>t being in the bill a- originally introduced, the Senator from 
Maryland, with thirty other-, voted in the affirmative. So we 
have his high authority for saying that all persons born in the 
I 'nited State-, and not subject to any foreign Power, are citizens 
of the United States, exactly a- it appears in this bill." 

"Mr. Yates, of Illinois, remarked: "1 remember very well 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 273 

that the Senator from Maryland offered an amendment to the 
Freedmen's Bureau Bill to this effect: to strike out the words 
'without distinction of color.' 'flic Freedmen's Bureau Bill ap- 
plied legislation by Congress to the freedmen in the Stales and 
to the condition of the freedmen in the States. It was legislation 
that affected the freedmen in the rebellious States. If I remem- 
ber aright the Senator from Maryland moved to strike out the 
words 'without distinction of color' in one section of that bill, 
and for that motion he gave this reason : because, under the Con- 
stitution of the United States, as amended, abolishing slavery in 
all the States and Territories of the United States, the freedmen 
occupied precisely the same position with any other citizen of the 
United States in any State or Territory. I understood him as 
taking the broad position, which I have maintained, and which 
Republican Senators have maintained, and which I think the 
country maintains, that under the Constitution, as amended, the 
freedman occupies precisely the same position as any man born in 
any State or Territory of the United States; and that was the 
object, if I understood the Senator from Maryland, of his moving 
to amend the Freedmen's Bureau Bill by striking out the words 
' without distinction of color.' 

" I recognize the authority of the decisions quoted by the 
Senator from Maryland before the adoption of the amendment to 
the Constitution. The States had the power over the question 
of slavery in the States before the amendment to the Constitu- 
tion; but by the amendment to the Constitution, in which the 
States have concurred, the freedman becomes a free man, entitled 
to the same rights and privileges as any other citizen of the 
United States." 

Mr. Cowan, of Pennsylvania, spoke in favor of the veto, pre- 
mising that his words, "if they are not to convince any body in 
the Senate, may go to the country and be reflected on there." 
Mr. Cowan said he was quite willing that all the people of this 
country should enjoy the rights conferred upon them by this bill. 
But, supposing the bill had all the merit in the world, it would 
not be effective to attain the ends hoped for by its friends; and 
apart from that, its provisions were exceedingly dangerous. It 
gave married women and minors the right to make and enforce 
contracts. The grammatical structure of a portion of the bill 
was such as to enable a corrupt, passionate, or prejudiced judge 
18 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGREt 

to take advantage of it in order to widen the jurisdiction of the 
United States '-Mint-, and drag into them all the business wliich 
h;ul heretofore occupied the St courts. This would be enough 
in this nineteenth century t<> make a man tremble for the fate of 
c institutional government. " It." said Mr. < Wan, " we had un- 
doubted authority to pass this bill, under the circumstances 1 
would not vote for it, on account of its objectionable phraseol 
its dubious Ian . and the mischief which might attend upon 

a large and liberal construction of it in the District and Circuit 
Courts of the United State-." The trouble and expense of ob- 
taining justice in the United States courts, but one, or at most 
two existing in any of the Southern States, would debar the 
African from applying to them for redress. "Your remedy," 
said the Senator, "is delusive; your remedy i- no remedy at all; 
and to hold it uj> to the world as a remedy is a gross fraud, how- 
over pious it may be. It is no remedy to the poor debtor that 
you prosecute his judge, and threaten him with fine and im- 
prisonment. It is no remedy to the poor man with a small claim 
that you locate a court one or two hundred mile- away from him 
which is so expensive in its administration of justice that he can 
not enter there. 

"There is another provision of the hill, which, notwithstand- 
ing the act of Congress relied upon by the honorable Senator 
from Illinois, I think is unquestionably anomalous, and to me 
not only anomalous, hut atrocious; and that i-, the substitution 
of an indictment for the writ of error. What has been the law 
of these United States heretofore'.' When an act of Congress 
came in contact with a State law, and the judge of a State court 
decided that the law of Congress was unconstitutional, there was 
an appeal given to the defeated party to the Supreme Court of 
the United States in order to determine the constitutionality of 
tin' law. But, sir, who, until the lasl few month-, ever heard of 
making the judge a criminal because he decided against the con- 
stitutionality of a law of the United States? One would think 
we were being transported back to the dark ages of the world 
when a man i< to he accused and perhaps convicted of a crime 
who ha- done nothing more than honestly and conscientiously 
discharged his duty. I know that the persons of embassadors arc 
sacred, and I know thai it is a very high offense against the law 
of nations, which no civil judge of any court could justify, to in- 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 275 

vade this sacred right of the embassador, but every body knows 
that that is an exceptional case. Every body knows that in 
all times and at all ages the judge was punishable who did 
not respect the person of an embassador. But that is not this 
case. That analogy will not help the third section of this bill. 
It is openly avowed upon the floor of the Senate of the United 
States, in the year of our Lord 1866, in the full blaze and light 
of the nineteenth century, that the indictment is to be a substi- 
tute for the writ of error, and it is justified because a judge ought 
to be indicted who violates the sacred person of an embassador ! 
What potency there must be in the recent amendment of the Con- 
stitution which has foisted the negro and set him upon the same 
platform as the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary 
of Great Britain or of all the Russias to the United States of 
America, and made him as sacred as an embassador, and the judge 
who decides against him is to be punished as a criminal ! " 

Mr. Stewart showed that States might easily avoid all the an- 
noying operations of this bill which were feared by its opponents : 
" When I reflect how very easy it is for the States to avoid the 
operation of this bill, how very little they have to do to avoid the 
operation of the bill entirely, I think that it is robbed of it,^ co- 
ercive features, and I think no one has any reason to complain 
because Congress has exercised a power, which it must be con- 
ceded it has, when it has exercised it in a manner which leaves 
it so easy for the States to avoid the operation of this bill. If 
passed to-day, it has no operation in the State of Georgia; it is 
impossible to commit a crime under this bill in the State of 
Georgia; and the other States can place themselves in the same 
position so easily that I do not believe they ought to complain." 

He then read the second section of an act passed in Georgia, 
precisely similar to the first section of the Civil Rights Bill. 
Nothing could be done in Georgia under •' color of law," which 
would subject officers to the penalties provided by the Civil 
Rights Bill. " It being so easily avoided by being complied with, 
by doing a simple act of justice, by carrying out the spirit of the 
constitutional amendment, I can not give my consent to defeal 
a bill the purpose of which is good, the operation of which ' 
innocent, and may be so easily avoided." 

The Republican Senators were desirous of bringing the bill to 
a final vote on this evening, but on account of the illness of 



- 



76 THE ill lin'V-XI.XTll f".\ 

itor Wright, of New Jersey, it was proposed by Democratic 
members to appoint some hour <>n the following day when the 
should be taken in order that they might have a full v 
Mr. W i HiiOj said: " It' this was a question in the ordi- 

nary course of legislation, I certainly would not object to the 
proposition which the gentlemen on the other side make; but \ 
view it as one <>f the greatest and most fundam 
that h; - ver come before this body for settlement, and 1 look 
upon it as having bearings altogether beyond the qui stion on this 
bill. The bill is, undoubtedly, a very good on . There is no 
constitutional objection to it ; there has been no objection to it 

1 that creates a doubt in the mind of any mortal man; but, 
nevertheless, we are at issue with the President of the United States 
upon a question peculiarly our own. The President of the United 
State- has no more power under the Constitution to interpose his 
authority here, to prescribe the principle upon which these States 
should he admitted to this Union, than any man of this body has 
out of it. The Constitution makes him the executive of the laws 
that we make, and there it leaves him ; and what i- our condition '.' 
We who are to judge of the forms of government under which 
State- shall exist ; we. who are the only power that i- charged 
with this great question, are to he somehow or other wheedled 
out of it by the President by reason of the authority that he 

up. 
"Sir, we can not abandon it unless we yield t'. a principle that 
will unhinge and unsettle the balances of the Constitution itself. 
It" the President of the United States can interpose hi- authority 
upon a question of this character, and can compel Congre* 
succumb to hi- dictation, he is an emperor, a despot, and not a 
President of the United State-. Because T believe the _ 
question of' congressional (tower and authority i- at -take here, 
[ yield to no importunities of the other side. [feel myself justi- 
fied in taking every advantage which the Almighty has put into 
my hands to defend the power and authority of this body, of 
which I claim to lie a part. I will not yield to these appeals of 
comity on a question like this; hut I will tell the President and 
every body else that, if God Almighty has striken one member 
bo that he can uot he here to uphold the dictation "fa despot, I 
thank him tor hi- interposition, and I will tah ' igi of it 

if I can." 



CI VI L II I ( ; H TS BILL. 377 

Mr. McDougall, of California, replied to Mr. Wade. This 
wayward Senator from California has wide notoriety from his 
unhappy habits of intemperance. He has been described by a 
writer unfriendly to his politics as "the most brilliant man in the 
Senate; a man so wonderfully rich, that though he seeks to beggar 
himself in talents and opportunities, he has lefl a patrimony large 
enough to outdazzle most of his colleagues." He frequently would 
enter the Senate-chamber in a condition of apparent stupor, un- 
able to walk straight; and after listening a few moments to what 
was going on, has arisen and spoken upon the pending question 
in words of great beauty and force. 

On this occasion Mr. McDougall is described as having been 
in a worse condition than usual. His words were muttered 
rather than spoken, so that only those immediately about him 
could hear; and yet his remarks were termed by one of his au- 
ditors as "one of the neatest little speeches ever heard in the 
Senate." His remarks were as follows : " The Senator from Ohio 
is in the habit of appealing to his God in vindication of his judg- 
ment and conduct; it is a common thing for him to do so; but 
in view of the present demonstration, it may well be asked who 
and what is his God. In the old Persian mythology there was 
an Ormudz and an Ahriman — a god of light and beauty, and a 
god of darkness and death. The god of light sent the sun to 
shine, and gentle showers to fructify the fields ; the god of dark- 
ness sent the tornado, and the tempest, and the thunder, scathing 
with pestilence the nations. And in old Chaldean times men 
came to worship Ahriman, the god of darkness, the god of pesti- 
lence and famine; and his priests became multitudinous; they 
swarmed the land ; and when men prayed then their offerings 
were, 'We will not sow a field of grain, we will not dig a well, 
we will not plant a tree/ These were the offerings to the dark 
spirit of evil, until a prophet came who redeemed that ancient 
land; but he did it after crucifixion, like our great Master. 

"The followers of Ahriman always appealed to the same spirit 
manifested by the Senator from Ohio. Death is to be one of his 
angels now to redeem the Constitution and the laws, and to estab- 
lish liberty. Sickness, suffering, evil, are to be his angels ; and he 
thanks the Almighty, his Almighty, that sickness, danger, and 
evil are about ! It may be a good god for him in this world : but 
if there is any truth in what we learn about the orders of religion 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 

in this Christian world, his faith will not help him when he shall 

id up and ask entrance at the crystal doors. If there can be 

evil expressed in high places that< uuunicates evil thoughts, that 

communicates evil teachings, thai de -alizes the youth, who re- 

ceive impressions as does the wax, i; is by such lessons as the 
Senator from Ohio now teaches by word of mouth - Senator in 
t!ii— Senate hall. 

Sir, the Presidenl of the United States is a constitutional offi- 
cer, clothed with high power, and clothed with the very po 
which he has exercised in this instance; and those who conferred 

. him these powers were men such as Madison, and -I ly, and 
Hamilton, and Morris, and Washington, and a host <>}' worth 
men who, I think, knew as much about the lav government, 

and how they should be rightly balanced, as any of the wisest who 
now sit here in council. It is the duty of the Presidenl of the 
United States to stand as defender of the Constitution in his place 
as the conservator of the rights of the people, as tribune of the 
people, as it was in old Rome when the people did choose their 
tribunes to go into the senate-chamber among the aristocracy of 

m\ and when they passed laws injurious to the Roman people, 
to stand and say, ' I tin-hid it.' 

"That is the veto power, incorporated wisely by our fathers in 

Constitution, conferred upon the President of the United 

■<, and to be treated with consideration ; and no appeal of the 
Senator to his God can change the Constitution or the rights of 
the President of the United States, or can prevent a just consid- 

ion of the dignity of this Senate body by persons who have 
just consideration, who feel that they are Senators 

•• It is a strange thing, an exceedingly strange thing, that when 
;; i w Senators in the city of Washington, ill at their houses, give 

ranee thai they can be here to act upon a great public question 
on the day following this, we should hear a piece of declamation, 
the Senator appealing to his ( rod, and saying, with an To triumphe 
air, ' Well or ill. God ha- made them ill." Sir. the god of deso- 
lation, the god of darkness, the god of evil is hi- god. 1 never 
I to hear such objections raised among honorable men; 
and men to he Senators should be honorable men. 1 never 
pected to hear such things in (hi- hall; and 1 rose simply to say 
such sentiment- were to he condemned, and must receive my 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 279 

condemnation, now and here; and if it amounts to a rebuke, I 
trust it may be a rebuke." 

The Senate adjourned, with the understanding that the vote 
should be taken on the following day. In the morning hour on 
that day, as the States were called for the purpose of giving Sen- 
ators an opportunity (4' introducing petitions or resolutions, Mr. 
Lane, of Kansas, presented a joint resolution providing for ad- 
mitting Senators and Representatives from the States lately in 
insurrection. This bill, emanating from a Republican Senator, 
who professed to have framed it as an embodiment of the Presi- 
dent's policy, was evidently designed to have an influence upon 
the action of the Senate upon the Civil Rights Bill. It prop 
that Senators and Representatives from the late rebellious States 
should be admitted into Congress whenever it should appear that 
thev had annulled their ordinances of secession, ratified the con- 
stitutional amendment abolishing slavery, repudiated all rebel 
debts, recognized the debts of the United States, and extended 
the elective franchise to all male persons of color residing in the 
State, over twenty-one years of age, who can read and write, and 
who own real estate valued at not less than two hundred and 
fifty dollars. 

As a reason for introducing this measure, Mr. Lane, of Kansas, 
remarked : " I have been laboring for months to harmonize the 
President of the United States with the majority on the floor of 
Congress. I thought yesterday that there was a hope of securing 
such a result. It did seem that some of the members of this body 
were disposed to harmonize with the President, I proposed to 
go very far yesterday to secure that harmony. But while pur- 
suing this course, we were awakened by one of the most vindic- 
tive assaults ever made upon any official, by either friend or oppo- 
nent, from the Senator from Ohio [Mr. Wade] — an assault upon 
my personal friend, a man who for two years sat side by side with 
me here, whom 1 learned to respect and admire for his pluck, his 
ability, and integrity, and to love for his manly virtues; a man 
whom I originally selected as the candidate of the Republican 
party for the second office within the gift of that party; a man 
whom T urged on the Republican conventional Baltimore a- their 
candidal'' ; a man whose election 1 did my utmost to secure against 
the efforts of the Senator from ( )hio. In the most critical moment 
of that political campaign, an assault was made on our presi- 



^6> THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGREt 

•Initial candidate in the same spirit evinced by him yesterday in 
hi< attack iijom the President. I defended the candidate of the 
Republican party against thai assault, and 1 defend the President 
of the Republican party against the assault of yesterday. 

••A despot!' 'A dictator!' In what'.' In seeking to re- 
construct the rebellious States in violation of the wishes of the 
Congress of the United S When Mr. Johnson took his 

seat in the presidential chair, I ask you, -ir. what had Cong - 
done? The people of the CJnil bad done this : Mr. Lin- 

coln had marked out the policy of reconstruction, since adopted 
by Mr. Johnson, and the people of the United States, the party 
to which the Senator from Ohio and myself belong, indorsed by 
triumphant majorities that very reconstruction policy. A despot 
for proposing, in violation of the wishes of the Congress of the 
United Sta reconstruct the insurrectionary State- upon the 

theory expressed in that joint resolution annulling the ordinances 
of secession, ratifying the amendment to the Constitution abolish- 

> 

ing slavery, repudiating the Confederate debt, indorsing the na- 
tional debt, and extending suffrage to all colored men who can 
read the Constitution of the United States and sign their name-, 
and to all colored men owning and paying tuxes upon $250 worth 
of property ! 

■• Mr. President. I am not as conversant with the constituency 
of the Senator from Ohio as he is, but I venture the assertion 
that outside of New England there is not a single Northern State 
in this Union but will by a majority vote to indorse the policy 
of reconstruction advised by President Johnson and expressed in 
that joint resolution. Von can not carry before the people of this 
country suffrage to the unqualified black man. You can not find 

S ate in this Union outside of New England, in my judgment, 
that will indorse that policy. Restrict it to a qualification clause, 
as the President of the United Suites recommends, and you can 
carry the Republican Union party every-where, and with una- 
nimity. 

"The President of the United State- "a despot' for exercising; 

a constitutional right in vetoing a hill passed by Congr ss! Mr. 

Presid snt, had tin : >r from < >hio occupied the position which 

upied by President Johnson, in my judgment, he would have 

d the ( 'ivil Rights Bill. ' A despot! ' What is the exercise 

of the Veto power.' 1: , !v to . vote to reconsider, 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. -SI 

with the lights given in his reasons for the veto. When before 
has the exercise of a constitutional right justified a political friend 
of the President of the United States in denouncing that Presi- 
dent as a despot and a dictator? lie has been and is now, in my 
judgment, as anxious to harmonize the difficulties in the Union 
party as any Senator upon this floor. If he was met in the same 
spirit, that party would be reunited and this Union would he re- 
stored. His advances are met by insult ; his advances are met by 
denunciation from the leader of the Republican party upon this 
fh.ur in language without a parallel. Mr. President, so far as I 
am concerned, I propose to-day and hereafter to take my position 
alongside the President of the Republican party, and stand there 
unflinchingly so long as he remains faithful to the principles of 
that party, defending him against the Senator from Ohio as I de- 
fended his predecessor against the same Senator." 

Mr. Lane then expressed his desire that his proposition should 
lie upon the table and be printed. An order having been entered 
to that effect, Mr. Wade addressed the Senate. He remarked: 
"It is said I made an attack on the President of the United 
States. As a Senator upon this floor, I care no more about the 
opinions of the President of the United States than I do about 
those of any respectable Senator upon this floor, or any Senator 
on this floor. Who is your President, that every man must bow 
to his opinion? Why, sir, we all know him; he is no stranger 
to this body. We have measured him; we know his height, his 
depth, his length, his breadth, his capacity, and all about him. 
Do you set him up as a paragon and declare here on the floor 
of this Senate that you are going to make us all bow down before 
him ? Is that the idea ? You [to Mr. Lane, of Kansas,] are 
going to be his apologist and defender in whatever he may propose 
to do! Is that the understanding of the Senator from Kansas? 

"I do not believe that his constituents will be quite satisfied 
with so broad a declaration, that he is to wear any man's collar, 
and follow him wherever he may go. Did I use harsh language 
toward the President yesterday? All that I said 1 stand by to- 
day and forever. What was the question 141011 which 1 made 
those observations, and what has been the opinion of the President 
heretofore? what has been his action since? Here arc time null- 
ion people, our friends, friends to the < rovernment, who generously 
came forward in its difficulty, and helped us throughout the war, 



TUB THIRTY-. XI. XT II CONGRESS 

irificed their blood and their lives to maintain the issue on our 
side, and who were faithful beyond all men that were ever faith- 
ful before, to us during the whole of the difficulty, every-where 

our brave bo! tiers in the field, laying down their Ha 
to maintain our principles, and ministering in every way to the 
misfortun tur brave men whenever they fell into tin- hands 

of those worse than savages with whom we were warring; and 
dow these men arc laboring, are under one of the most frightful 
despotisms that ever settled down upon the heads of mankind. 
Three million people are exposed to the outrages, the insolence, 
the murder of those worse than savages, their former masters, 
murdered as we hear every day, oppressed every-where, their 
risrhts taken away, their manhood trampled under fool : and Con- 
gress, under the Constitution of the United States, endeavors to 
extend to them some little protection, and how are we met here? 
Every attempt of your Moses has been to trample them down 
worse, and to throw every obstruction in the way of any relief 
that could be proposed by Congress. Be has from all appear- 
ances li>. •..me their inveterate and relentless foe, making violent 
war upon any member of Congress who dares raise his voice or 
give his vote in favor of any measure having for it- object the 
amelioration of the condition of these poor people. Talk to me 
about the Presidenl being their friend! When did it ever hap- 
pen before that a great measure of relief to suffering humanity on 
as broad a scale as this was met by the stern veto of the President 
of the United Stat.-, and without being able when he undertal 
t,, make hi- obstruction to our measure- to designate a singk 
clause of the Constitution that he pretend- has beeu violated. 

"Yesterday what was the issue? I was charged with great 
cruelty on this floor, because 1 was unwilling to wait for recruits 
to he brought in here for the purpose of overthrowing tin' ground 

we had taken upon this important question whether these p ' 

people shall have relief or not. Now. 1 wish to say that 1 am 
willing t" extend courtesy to our old associates on this floor un- 
der other circumstances ; but when you extend this kind of cour- 

-v I., them, the result is death and destruction to three million 
people, trampled under the feet of their former masters. My 
courtesy is extended to those poor men. and 1 would not wait a 
moment that their enemies may he brought in here in order to 
prevent our doing any thin their relief, joining with the 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 283 

President, who is determined, if we may judge by his acts, that 
no measure having for its object any relief shall be extended to 
them. 

•• Did you hear the fact stated here the other day, that bills 
were drawn with a view to escape the anathemas of your Presi- 
dent, and were exhibited to him, and he asked ' if he had any 
objection to them to look them over well, because il* we can, con- 
sistent with the object aimed at, make them clear of any objection 
you may have, we will do it '.' ' 

" I said, sir, that he seemed to have meditated a controversy 
with Congress from the beginning, and he has. He has treated 
our majorities as hostile to the people; two thirds of both branches 
of Congress have been treated by him as mere factionists, dis- 
unionists, enemies to the country, bent upon its destruction, bar- 
gaining with the enemy to destroy the Government. This is the 
way the President has treated Congress, and every bill they have 
passed, which promised any relief to the men whom we are bound 
to protect, has been trampled under the Executive heel ; and even 
when members of this body did what I say they ought not to 
have done — for I do not approve of my brother Trumbull's go- 
ing up to the President, when he has a measure pending here as 
a Senator, to ask the President, in the first place, whether he will 
approve of it or not ; even when he was asked if he objected to 
this measure, and made no objection, he still undertakes to veto it. 

" If Congress should recede from the position they have taken 
to claim jurisdiction over this great question of readmitting these 
States, from that hour they surrender all the power that the Con- 
stitution places in their hands and that they were sworn to sup- 
port, and they are the mere slaves of an accidental Executive ; of 
a man who formerly associated with us upon this floor; who was 
no more infallible than the rest of us poor mortals; and yet the 
moment, by death or accident, he is placed in the executive chair, 
it would seem as if some Senators believed him to be endowed 
with superhuman wisdom, and ought to be invested with all the 
powers of this Government; that Congress ought to get on their 
knee- before him, and take his insults and his dictation without 
itment and without even an attempt to resist. Some States 
may semi such instrumentalities here, but God knows some will 
not : and I pity those that do, for they would hold their freedom 
on a very uncertain! tenure. 



284 ■ THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRE& 

"Som< gentlemen may be patienl under the charge of treason, 
perhaps the more so because treason is becoming popular in this 
<lav : but, sir, I am a little too old-fashioned to be charged by the 
ttive branch of this Government as a traitor on the floor of 
Congress, and nol resent it. 1 do not ''arc whether he be King 
or President that insinuates that I am a disunionist or traitor, 
standing upon the same infamous platform with the traitors of 
the South; I will nol take it from any mortal man, high or low, 
without repelling the charge. If any man here is tame enough 
to do it. he is too tame to be tin' Senator of a proud- 
people, conscious of their own freedom. 1 claim I their re- 
presentative, and they will censure me ii' they do nut like my 
doctrine. 

•"And now, Mr. President, 1 wish to make an appeal to those 
great, patriotic statesmen on this floor, who, by their love of prin- 
ciple, by their unswerving honesty, unseduced by the blandish- 
ments of executive power, unawed by threat- of violence, stand 
here to defend the rights of the people upon this floor, ami will 
stand here forever. I say to you Senators, we, the majority who 
aii- stigmatized as traitors, are the only barrier to-. lay bet> 
this nation ami anarchy and despotism. If we give way, the 
hope "i' this nation is lost by the recreancy— yea, sir, I will - 
the treachery — of a man who betrayed our confidence, got into 
power, and ha- gone into the camp of the enemy, and joined 
those who never breathed a breath of principle in common with 
us." 

Mi-. Lane replied: "I stated that the party to which I belong 
nominated the present President of the United States and elected 
him, and that as lone,' a- he fought within OUT lines and remained 
in our party, I would endeavor to defend him upon tlii— floor 
againsl all unjust assaults. After making thai statement, the 
Senator from Ohio, forgetting the position he occupies, has sug- 
ed thai 1 have taken upon myself the collar of the President 
of the United States. 1 hurl the suggestion in the teeth of the 
Senator from Ohio as unworthy a Senator. I wear a color! The 
pro-slavery party of the United States, hacked by a Democratic 
Administration, sustained and supported ly the arm} of the 
United States, could not fasten a collar upon the handful of 
Kansas squatters of whom I had the honor to be the leader. 
The gallant fight made in this Senate-chamber by the Senator 



CIVIL BIGHTS BILL. 285 

from Ohio, aided by the Senators from Massachusetts and other 
Senators, would have been of but little avail had it not been 
for that other fight that was made upon the prairies of Kansas 
under the lead of your humble speaker. I wear a collar! In- 
dicted for treason by a pro-slavery grand jury, hunted from State 
to State by a writ founded upon that indictment for treason, and 
§100,000 offered foi my bead! -lira Lane wear a collar! Wher- 
ever he is known, that charge will be denounced as false by both 
friends and enemies.'' 

Mr. Brown, of Missouri, made a short speech, in which he set 
forth the position of Mr. Lane, of Kansas, on questions previ- 
ously before the Senate, showing their inconsistency with some 
of his recent remarks. 

Mr. Doolittle next delivered a speech, in the course of which 
lie called attention to a bill which he had drawn "to provide ap- 
propriate legislation to enforce article thirteen of the Amendments 
to the Constitution, abolishing slavery in the United States." 
His object in presenting this bill was to "avoid the objections 
raised by men not only in this body, but in the other house, and 
the objections raised by the President of the United States, to 
the bill now pending. 

He endeavored to explain his position and changes of opinion 
upon the Civil Rights: "While this measure was upon its pass- 
age, I took no part in its discussion except upon a single point 
in relation to the Indian tribes. The bill passed, and the final 
vote was taken when I was not present in the Senate ; but it was 
not under such circumstances that, had I been here, I should not 
have voted for the bill. I have no doubt that if I had been 
present I should have voted for it. My attention was not drawn 
very earnestly to the consideration of all the provisions of this bill 
until the bill had passed from Senate and had gone to the 'louse 
of Representatives, when the speeches of Mr. Bingham, of Ohio, 
and of Mr. Delano, of Ohio, both able and distinguished lawyers 
of that State, arrested my attention and called me very carefully 
to the consideration of the great questions which are involved in 
the bll. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives; 
it went to the President, From the fact that it was not signed 
and returned to this body at once, and from all I heard. 1 be- 
came satisfied that, at least, if the bill was not to be returned 

19 



3G THE TIIIRTr-XI.YTIl CONGRE& 

with ol>j actions, it was being withheld for most earnest and seri- 
ous consideration by the Executive. 

"Then, Mr. President, it was, in view of all that had occurred, 
what had been said by gentlemen in whom I had the utmost — I 
may say unbounded — confidence, that I began to look into this 

■ 

measure and to study it for myself. It is n<>t my purpose now 
to go into a discussion of the provisions of this hill any further 
than to say thai there are provisions in it upon which the judg- 
ments of the best patriots, the best jurists, the most earnest men 
disagree. There are men, in whom I have entire confidence, who 
maintain that all it- provisions are within the purview of the 
Constitution ; there arc others in whom I have confidence, and 
equal confidence, who maintain directly the contrary; and this 
has brought me seriously to consider whether there be no com- 
mon ground upon which friend- can stand and stand together. 
Sir, I may have failed to find it ; but if 1 have, it is not hecau-' 
I have not most earnestly sought for it with some days oi' study 
and most earnest reflection. I have endeavored to put upon 
paper what I believe would carry this constitutional provision 
into effect and yet would be a common ground on which we could 
unite without violating the conscientious convictions of amy." 

In concluding his remarks, Mr. Doolittle referred to instruc- 
tions received by him from the Legislature of Wisconsin: "Mr. 
President, I have received, in connection with my colleague, a 
telegraphic dispatch from the Governor of the State of Wiscon- 
sin, which I have QO doubt i- correct, although 1 have not seen 

the resolution which is said to have been passed by the Legisla- 
ture, in which it is stated that the Legislature has passed a reso- 
lution instructing the Senator- in Congress from Wisconsin to 
vote I'm- the passage of the Senate hill commonly known as the 
Civil Rights Bill, the veto of the President to the contrary not- 
withstanding. I have already stated, from m\ stand-point, the 
reasons why, in my judgment, I can not do it ; I have stated 
them freely and frankly, and, as a matter of course, I expect to 

abide the consequences. I know that it has sometimes been said 
to me, by those, too, in whom I would have confidence, that for 
me, under circumstances like these, not to follow the instructions 
of the Legislature of my State, would he to terminate my polit- 
ical life. Sir, he it so. I never held or aspired to any other 
office politically than the .me I now hold; and God knows, if I 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 2S7 

know my own heart, if I can see this Union restored after this 
gigantic war which has put clown the rebellion, and to which I 
have lent my support, I shall he satisfied. I do not desire to 
remain in political life beyond that hour. There is nothing in 
that which will have the slightest influence whatever upon me. 
The duty which I owe to myself, the duty which I owe to the 
country, the duty which I owe to the union of these States, and 
the preservation of the rights of the States, and the duty which 
I owe to the great Republican party, which I would still desire 
to save, prompts me to pursue the course which I now do." 

Mr. Garret Davis, of Kentucky, addressed the Senate in a 
long speech, of which the following is the closing paragraph : 
"Public justice is often slow, but generally sure. Think you 
that the people will look on with folded arms and stolid indiffer- 
ence and see vou subvert their Constitution and liberties, and on 
their ruins erect a grinding despotism. No ; erelong they will 
rise up with earthquake force and fling yon from power and 
place. I commend to your serious meditation these words : ' Go 
tell Sylla that you saw Caius Marius sitting upon the ruins of 
Carthage ! ' " 

Mr. Saulsbury thought a revolution would result from the 
passage of this bill : " In my judgment the passage of this bill 
is the inauguration of revolution — bloodless, as yet, but the at- 
tempt to execute it by the machinery and in the mode provided 
in the bill will lead to revolution in blood. It is well that the 
American people should take warning in time and set their house 
in order, but it is utterly impossible that the people of this coun- 
try Avill patiently entertain and submit to this great wrong. I 
do not say this because I want a revolution : Heaven knows we 
have had enough of bloodshed ; we have had enough of strife ; 
there has been enough of mourning in every household; there 
are too many new-made graves on which the grass has not yet 
grown for any one to wish to see the renewal of strife; but, sir, 
attempt to execute this act within the limits of the States of this 
Union, and, in my judgment, this country will again be plunged 
into all the horrors of civil war." 

Mr. McDougall said: "I agree with the Senator from Dela- 
ware that this measure is revolutionary in its character. The 
majority glory in their giant power, but they ought to under- 
stand that it is tyrannous to exercise that power like a giant. A 



?<5 Til!-: THIRTY-NINTH CONGI 

revolution now is moving onward : it has it- center in the North- 
east. A spirit has been radiating out from there for years 
as revolutionary as the spirit that went out from Charleston, 
South Carolina, and perhaps it- consequences will be equally 
fatal, for when thai revolutionary struggle comes it will not be a 
war between the North ami it- power and the slaveholding pop- 
ulation of the South ; it will l>e among tin- North men them- 
selves, they who have lived under the shadows of great oaks, and 
-cfii the tall pine-trees bend." 

At the conclusion of the remarks by the Senator from Califor- 
nia, the vote was taken, with the following result: 

5Teas— Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, Conness, Cragin, < 
well, Edmunds, Fessenden, Foster, Grimes, Harris, Henderson, Howard, 
Howe, Kirkwood, Lane of Indiana, Morgan, Morrill, Nye, Poland, Pom 
Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, Stewart, Sumner-, Trumbull, Wade, Willey, Wil- 
liams, Wilson, and Yates — 33. 

Nays — Messrs. Buckalew, Cowan. Davis, Doolittle, Guthrie, Hendri 
Johnson, Lane .it' Kansas, McDougall, Nesmith, Norton, Riddle, Saulsbury, 
Van Winkle, ami Wright — 1"). 

Assent — Mr. Dixon. 

The President pm tempore then made formal announcement of 
the result: "The yens being 33 and the nays 15, the hill has 
passed the Semite by the requisite constiutional majority, not- 
withstanding the objection of the President to the contrary." 

< >n the 9th of April. 1866, three days after the passage of tin 1 
hill in the Senate, the House of Representatives proceeded to ][< 
consideration. The hill and the President's Yet<> Message hav- 
ing been read, Mr. Wilson, of Iowa, demanded the previous ques- 
tion on the passage of the hill, the objections of the President to 
the contrary notwithstanding, and gave his reasons for so doing: 
"Mr. Speaker, the debate which occurred on this hill occupied 
two weeks of the time of this House. Some forty speeches were 
made, and the debate was not brought to a close until all had 
been heard who expressed a desire to speak upon the hill. At 
the close of that debate, the hill was passed by more than two- 
thirds of this Mouse. It has been returned to us with the objec- 
tions of' the President to it- becoming a law. 1 do not propose 
ti> re pen the discussion of this measure; I am disposed to leave 
the close of this debate to the President by the message which 
has just been read. 1 ask the friends of this great measure to 



CIVIL RIGTfS BILL. 289 

answer the argument and statements of that message bv their 

vote-." 

The vote was finally taken on the question, 'Shall this hill 
pass, notwithstanding the objections of the President?" The fol- 
lowing is the record of the vote: 

Yeas — Messrs. Alley, Allison. Delo* R. Ashley. James M. Ashley, Baker, 
Baldwin, Banks, Barker, Baxter, Beaman, Benjamin, Bidwell, Boutwell, 
Brandegee, Bromwell, Broomall, Buckland, Bundy, Reader W. Clark'', Sid- 
ney Clarke, Cobb, Colfax, Conkling, Cook, Cullom, Darling, Davis. Dawes, 
Defrees, Delano. Deininjr. Dixon. Dodge, Donnelly, Eckley, Eggleston, Eliot, 
Farnsworth, Farquhar, Ferry, Garfield, Crinnell, Griswold, Hale. Abner ' '. 
Harding, Hart, Hayes, Henderson, Higby, Hill, Holmes. Hooper, Hotch- 
kiss. Asahel W. Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard. John H. Hubbard. James 
R. Hubbell, Hulburd, James Humphrey, Ingefsoll, Jenek"s. Ka<son. Kel- 
ler, Kelso. Ketcham, Laflin, George V. Lawrence. William Lawrence, 
Loan, Longyear, Lynch. Marston. Marvin, McClurg, Mclndoe, McKee, 
McRuer, Mercur, Miller, Moorhead, Morrill. Morris, Moulton, Myers, New- 
ell, O'Neill, Orth, Paine, Patterson, Perham. Pike, Plants, Pomeroy, Price, 
Alexander H. Rice, John H. Rice, Rollins. Sawyer, Schenck, Scofield, Shella- 
barger, Spalding, Starr. Stevens, Thayer. Francis Thomas, John L. Thomas, 
Trowbridge, Upson. Van Aernam, Burt Van Horn, Robert T. Van Horn, 
Ward, Elihu B. Washburne, Henry D. Washburn, William B. Wash hum. 
Welker. Wentworth, James F. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, Windom, and 
Woodbridge— 122. 

Nays — Messrs. Ancona, Bergen, Boyer, Coffroth, Dawson, Dennison, El- 
dridge, Finck, Glossbrenner, Aaron Harding, Harris, Hogan, Edwin N. 
Hnbbell, James M. Humphrey, Latham, Le Blond, Marshall. McCullougb, 
Niblack, Nicholson. Noell, Phelps, Radford, Samuel J. Randall, William H. 
Randall, Raymond, Ritter, Roirers, Ross, Rosseau, Shanklin, Sitgreavi - 
Smith, Strouse, Taber, Taylor, Thornton, Trimble, Whaley, Winfield, and 
Wright— 41. 

Not Voting — -Messrs. Ames, Anderson, Bingham, Blaine, Blow, Ohanler, 
Culver, Driggs, Dumont, Goodyear, Grider, Demas Hubbard, Johnson, Jones, 
Julian, Kerr, Kuykendall, Sloan. Stilwell, Warner, and Williams — 21. 

The Speaker then made the following annonneement : "The 
yeas are 122, and the nays 41. Two-thirds of the Honse hav- 
ing, upon this reconsideration, agreed to the passage of the bill, 
and it being certified officially that a similar majority of the Sen- 
ate, in which the bill originated, also agreed to its passage. I do, 
therefore, by the authority of the Constitution of the United 
States, declare that this bill, entitled 'An act to protect all per- 
sons in the United States in their civil rights, and furnish the 
means of their vindication,' has become a law." 
19 



W THE THIRTY-JflNTR CONGRESS. 

This announcement was followed by prolonged applause on the 
flour of the House and among the throng of spectators in the gal- 
leries. 

The following is the form in which tin- great measure so long 
pending became a law of the land: 

7; 

■'. That all • born in the United 

rf ites and not subject to any foreign Power, excluding Indians not taxed, 
are hereby declared to be citizens of the United - and Buch citiz< 

of every race and color, without regard to any previous condition of slavery 
or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the 
party shall have been duly convicted, shall have the >;un.' right in every 
State and Territory in the United - to make and enforc 

sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and 
convey real and personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws 
and proceedings for the security of person and property as is enjoyed by 
white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, and penalties, 
and to none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to the 
contrary notwithstanding. 

"Sec. - And >>■ it further That any person who, under color of 

any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, shall subject, or cause t<> 
be subjected, any inhabitant of any State or Territory to the deprivation of 
any right secured or protected by this act, or to different punishment, pains, 
or penalties on account of such person having at any time been held in a 
condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for 
crime where. if the party shall have been duly convicted, or by reason of his 
color or race, than is prescribed for the punishment of white persons, shall 
he deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and. on conviction, shall be punished 

by a fine m ling >1 000, or imprisonment not ex.- ling one year, or 

both, in the discretion of the court. 

further . That the district courts of the United 

States, within their respective districts, shall have, exclusively of the court- oi 
tiie several St:'! aizance of all crimes and offenses committed against 

the provisions of this act, and also, concurrently with the circuit courts of 
the United States, of all causes, civil ami criminal, affectin ns who are 

denied or can not enforce in the courts or judicial tribunals of the State 
or locality where they may he. any of the rights seeured to them by the t 

tion of ; ami if any suit or prosecution, civil or criminal, has been 

or -hall be commenced in any State court against anv such person, for any 
cause whatsoever, or against anv officer, <i\il or military, or other person, 
for an_\ arrest or imprisonment, trespasses or wrongs, done or committed by 
virtue or under color of authority derived from this act or tie- act establish- 
ing a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees, and all acts amend- 
atory thereof, or lor refusing to do any act upon the ground that it would 
be inconsistent with this act, such defendant shall have the right to remove 
BUoh cause for trial to the prop.r district or circuit court in the manner 



CIVIL BIGHTS BILL, 291 

prescribed by the 'Act relating to habeas corpus and regulating judicial pro- 
ceedings in certain cases ' approved March 3, 1863, and all arts amendatory 

thereof. The jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters hereby conferred 
on the district and circuit courts of the United States shall be exercised 
and enforced in conformity with the laws of the United States, so far as 
such laws are suitable to carry the same into effect; but in all cases when; 
such laws are not adapted to the object, or are deficient in the provisions 
necessary to furnish suitable remedies and punish offenses against law, the 
common law, as modified and changed by the constitution and statutes of 
the States wherein the court having jurisdiction of the cause, civil or crim- 
inal, is held, so far as the same is not inconsistent with the Constitution 
and laws of the United States, shall be extended to and govern said courts 
in the trial and disposition of such cause, and, if of a criminal nature in 
the infliction of punishment on the party found guilty. 

"Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the district attorneys, marshals, 
and deputy-marshals of the United States, the commissioners appointed by 
the circuit and territorial courts of the United States, with powers of arrest- 
ing, imprisoning, or bailing offenders against the laws of the United States, 
the officers and agents of the Freedmen's Bureau, and every other officer 
who may be specially empowered by the President of the United States, 
shall be, and they are hereby, specially authorized and required, at the ex- 
pense of the United States, to institute proceedings against all and every 
person who shall violate the provisions of this act, and cause him or them 
to be arrested and imprisoned, or bailed, as the case may be, for trial before 
such court of the United States, or territorial court, as by this act ha-- cog 
nizance of the offense. And with a view to affording reasonable protection 
to all persons in their constitutional rights of equality before the law, with 
out distinction of race or color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary 
servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have 
been duly convicted, and to the prompt discharge of the duties of this act, 
it shall be the duty of the circuit courts of the United States and the supe- 
rior courts of the Territories of the United States, from time to time, to in- 
crease the number of commissioners, so as to afford a speedy and convenient 
means for the arrest and examination of persons charged with a violation 
of this act. And such commissioners are hereby authorized and required 
to exercise and discharge all the powers and duties conferred on them by 
this act, and the same duties with regard to offense^ created by this act, as 
they are authorized by law to exercise with regard to other offenses against 
the laws of the United States. 

" SeCi 5. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of all mar 
shals and deputy-marshals to obey and execute all warrants and precepts 
issued under the provisions of this act, when to them directed, and should 
any marshal or deputy-marshal refuse to receive such warrant or other pro- 
cess when tendered, or to use all proper means diligently to execute the 
same, he shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in the sum of $1,000, to the 
use of the person upon whom the accused is alleged to have commmittnl 
the offense. And the better to enable the said commissioners to execute their 
duties faithfully and efficiently, in conformity with the Constitution of the 



77/ A' 77/ IB T } -NINTH COJfG E A 

I States ind the requirements of this act, they a autbori 

and empowered, within their counties res] tively, to appoint, in writin 

under their hands, any one or more suitable persons, from ti time, to 

ii warrants and other proc may be issued by them in 

lawful performance of their respective duties; and the 

any warrant <>r pro -- - . • said, shall have author • 
to summon and call to their aid the bystanders or the posse comit 
proper county, or Buch portion of the land and naval forces of the Uni1 
States, or the militia, as may be necessary to the performance of the duty 
with which they are charged, and to insure a faithful »f the 

clause of the Constitution which prohibits slavery, in conformity with the 
provisions of this act; and said warrants shall run and i ■ ' bj - 

■ in the State or Territory within which they an.- issued 

~ .i led, That any person who .-hall knowi 

and willfully obstruct, hinder, or prevent any officer, or other ; 
with the execution of any warrant or process issued under the provisi 
ut' this act, or any person or persons lawfully assisting him or I 
arresting any person for whose apprehension Buch warrant or j . : oay 

have been issued, or shall rescue or attempt to rescue Buch person from 
the custody of the officer, other person or persons, or those lawfully ass 
ing as aforesaid, when so arrested pursuant to the authority herein gii 
and declared, or who shall aid, abet, or assist any arrested as 

aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to escape from the custody of the officer or 
other person legally authorized as aforesaid, or shall harbor or - ■ iny 

person for whose arrest a warrant or process shall have i a issued as 

aforesaid, so as to prevent his discovery and arrest after notice or knowledge 
of the fact that a warrant has been issued for the apprehension of such per- 
son, shall, for either of said offenses, be Bubject to a fine not exceeding 
$] 000, and imprisonment not exceeding six months, by indictment and on 
viction before the district court of the United States for the district in which 
said offense may have been committed, or before the proper c iurt of crim- 
inal jurisdiction, if committed within any one ol' the organized Territoi 
of the United Sta 

"Si. 7 And be it fur ■■'. That the district attorneys, the mar- 

shals the deputies, and the clerks of the said district and territorial courts 
shall be paid for their services the like fees as may be allowed to them 

similar Bcrvices in other cases; and in all cases where the pro< dings are 

before a commissioner, he -hall be entitled to a fee of ten I dlars in full for 
his services in each ease, inclusive of all services incident I Buch an 
and examination. The person or persons authorized to execute the process 
to I"- issued by such commissioners for the arrest of offenders against the 
provision- of this act, Bhall be entitled to a fee of five dollars for each | 

lie or they may arrest and take before anj Buch commissioner as af 
said, with such other may be deemed reasonable by Buch commis 

sinner for Buch other additional services as may be necessarily performed by 
him or them. Buch a- attending at the examination, keeping the prisoner in 
custody, and providing him with food and lodging during his detention, and 
until the final determination of such commissioner, and in general for per- 



CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 293 

forming such other duties as may be required in the premises; such 
to be made up in conformity with the fees usually charged ly the offi 

of the courts of justice within the proper district or county, as uear as may 
be practicable, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States on the 
certificate of the judge of the district within which the arrest is made, and 
to be recoverable from the defendant as part of the judgment in case of 
conviction. 

"Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That whenever the President of the 
United States shall have reason to believe that offenses have been or are 
likely to be committed against the provisions of this act within any judicial 
district, it shall be lawful for him, in his discretion, to direct the judge, 
marshal, and district attorney of such district to attend at such place within 
the district, and for such time as he may designate, for the purpose of the 
more speedy arrest and trial of persons charged with a violation of this 
act; and it shall be the duty of every judge or other officer, when any such 
requisition shall be received by him, to attend at the place, and for the 
time therein designated. 

"Sec. 9. And be it further enacted. That it shall be lawful for the Presi- 
dent of the United States, or such person as he may empower for that pur- 
pose, to employ such part of the land or naval forces of the United St 
or of the militia, as shall be necessary to prevent the violation and enforce 
the due execution of this act. 

" Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That upon all questions of law aris- 
ing in any cause under the provisions of this act a final appeal may be taken 
to the Supreme Court of the United States." 



294 THE THIRTY-JflJfTB CONGRESS. 



CHAPTK1! XII 

THE SECOND FBEEDMEN'S BUREAU BILL BECOMES A LAW". 

The Discovert or the Majority — The Senate Bill — The I! 1.1. — 

Its Provisions — Passage of the Bill — Amendment and Passagi in the 

5 hate— Committee of Conference — The Amendments as Accepted — 

The Bill as Passed — T . ■ — The Proposition of \ Democrat 

iepted— in Leadership — Passage of the Bill over thk 

... —It Becomes a Law. 

CONGRESS having succeeded in placing the Civil Rights I > i 1 1 
in tlicstaiutc-lH.uk in spite of Executive opposition, was not 
disposed to allow other Legislation which was regarded 
important to go by default. The disposition of the President, 
now plainly apparent, to oppose all Legislation which the party 
thai had elevated him to office inighl consider appropriate to the 
condition of the rebel States, the majority in Congress discovered 
that, if they would make progress in the work before them, the) 
must he content to d<> without Executive approval. The defec- 
tion of the President from the principles of the part)' which 
had elected him. SO tar from dividing and destroying that party, 
had rathei- given it consolidation and strength. After the veto 
of the Civil Rights Bill, a very few members of the Senate and 
House of Representatives who had been elected as Republicans 
adhered to the President, but the mosi of those who had wavered 
stepped forward into the ranks of the " Radicals," as they were 
called, and a firm and invincible "two-thirds" moved forward 
to consummate legislation which they deemed essential to the 
interests '»f the nation. 

So fully convinced were the majority that some effective legisla- 
tion for the freedmen should be mmated, that two days 
the final vote in which the former bill failed to p ; i-< over the veto, 
S< ■ itor Wilson introduced a hill " to continue in force tic Bu- 



THE FREEDMEN. 295 

reau for the relief of Freedmen and Refugees," which was read 
twice and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs. 

The. bill, however, which subsequently became a law, origi- 
nated in the House of Representatives. In that branch of Con- 
gress was a Special Committee on the Freedmen, who were able 
to give more immediate and continuous attention to that class of 
people than could committees such as those of the Judiciary and 
Military Affairs, having many other subjects to consider. 

The Committee on the Freedmen, having given much time 
and attention to the perfection of a measure to meet the neces- 
sities of the case, on the 22d of May reported through their 
chairman, Mr. Eliot, "A bill to continue in force and amend an 
act entitled 'an act to establish a Bureau for the relief of Freed- 
men and Refugees, and for other purposes.' " 

This bill provided for keeping in force the Freedmen's Bureau 
then in existence for two years longer. Some of the features to 
which the President had objected in his veto of the former bill 
had been modified and in part removed. In providing for the 
education of freedmen, the commissioner was restricted to co- 
operating so far with the charitable people of the country as to 
furnish rooms for school-houses and protection to teachers. The 
freedmen's courts were to be kept in existence till State legisla- 
tion should conform itself to the Civil Rights Bill, and the dis- 
turbed relations of the States to the Union were restored. The 
President was required to reserve from sale public lands, not ex- 
ceeding in all one million of acres, in Arkansas, Mississippi, 
Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana, to be assigned in parcels of 
forty acres and less t<» loyal refugees and freedmen. 

One week after the introduction of the bill, its consideration 
was resumed. The question was taken without debate, and the 
bill passed by a vote of ninety-six in favor and thirty-two 
against the measure. Fifty-five members failed to vote. 

On the day following, May :50th, the clerk of the House con- 
veyed the bill to the Senate. Tt was there referred to the Com- 
mittee on Military Affairs, as that committee already had before 
them seven bills relating to the same subject. Nearly a fortnight 
subsequently, the committee reported back to the Senate the 
House bill with certain amendments. The report of the com- 
mittee, and the amendments proposed therein, could not tie con- 
sidered in the Senate until the lapse of another fortnight On 



296 THE Til I R T I -. \ 7. \ 77/ COJ\ \ ! B E& ?. 

the 26th of June, the amendments devised by thi committee 
were read in the Senate and adopted. Mr. Davis made a number 
of attempts to have the bill laid on the table or deferred to a 
subsequent day, but without success. Mr. Hendricks and Mr. 
Buckalew made ineffectual attempts to amend the Itill by pro- 
posing to strike out' important sections. 

The Senate indulged in but little discussion of the ltill or the 
amendments. The bill as amended finally passed the Senate by 
a vote of twenty-six for and six against the measure. The bill 
then went to the House for the concurrence of that body in the 
amendments passed by the Senate. 

The Committee on the Freedmen made a report, which was 
adopted by the House, to non-concur in the amendments of the 
Senate. A Committee of Conference was appointed on the part 
of the Senate and the House. They, alter consultation, made a 
report by which the Senate amendments, with some modifications, 
were adopted. 

Mr. Eliot, Chairman of the Committee on the Freedmen, and 
of the Committee of Conference on the part of the House, at the 
request of a member, thus explained the amendments proposed by 
the Senate: " The first amendment which the Senate made to the 
bill, as it was passed by the House, was simply an enlargement 
of one of the sections of the House bill, which provided that the 
volunteer medical officers engaged in the medical department of 
the bureau might be continued, inasmuch as it was expected that 
the medical force of the regular army would be speedily reduced 
to the minimum, and in that case all the regular officers would 
be wanted in the service. It wa- therefore thought right that 
there should 1"- some force connected with the Bureau of Refu- 

es and Freedmen. The Senate enlarged the provisions of the 
House bill by providing that officers of the volunteer service now 
on duty might be continued as assistant commissioners ami other 
officers, and that the Secretary of War might lill vacancies until 
other officers could be detailed from the regular army. That is 

the substance of the first material amendment. 

"The next amendment strikes out a portion of one of the sec- 
tions nl' the House bid, which related t<> the officers who serve as 
medical officers of the bureau, because it was provided for in the 
amendment to which 1 have just referred. 

"The next amendment strikes out from the House hill the 



THE FREEDMEN. 207 

section which sei apart, reserved from sale, a million acres of land 
in the Gulf States. It may perhaps be recollected that when the 
bill was reported from the committee, I stated that, in case the bill 
which the House had then passed, and which was known as the 
Homestead Bill, and which was then before the Senate, should 
Inn mie a law, this section of the bill would not be wanted. The 
bill referred to has become a law, and this section live, providing 
for that reservation, has, therefore, been stricken from the bill. 

"The next amendment made by the Senate was to strike out a 
section of the House bill which simply provided that upon appli- 
cation for restoration by the former owners of the land assigned 
under General Sherman's field order, the application should not 
be complied with. That section is stricken out and another sub- 
stituted for it, which provides that certain lands which are now 
owned by the United States, having been purchased by the United 
States under tax commissioners' sales, shall be assigned in lots of 
twenty acres to freedmen who have had allotments under General 
Sherman's field order, at the price for which the lands were pur- 
chased by the United States ; and not only that those freedmen 
should have such allotments, but that other freedmen who had 
had lots assigned to them under General Sherman's field order, 
and who may have become dispossessed of their land, should have 
assignments made to them of these lands belonging to the United 
States. I think the justice of that provision will strike every one. 
And it will be perhaps a merit in the eyes of many that it does 
not call upon the Treasury for the expenditure of any money. 
In the bill which was passed by the House, it will be recollected 
that there was a provision under which there should be purchased 
by the commissioner of the bureau enough public lands to be sub- 
stituted for the lands at first assigned to freedmen. Instead of that, 
provision is made by which they can have property belonging to 
the United States which lias come into its possession under tax 
sales, and where the titles have been made perfect by lapse of time. 

"The next amendment of the Senate provides that certain lands 
which were purchased by the United States at tax sales, and which 
arc now held by the United State.-, should be sold at prices not 
less than ten dollars an acre, and that the proceeds should be 
invested for the support of schools, without distinction of color 
or race, on the islands in the parishes of St. Helena and St. Luke. 
That is all the provision which was made for education. 



298 TEE TEIRTY-JfltfTE CONGRESS 

"The only other material amendment made bytheSenato 
to the commissioner of the bureau power t<> take property of the 
late Confederate States, held by them or in trust for them, and 
which is now in charge of the commissioner of the bureau, to 
takr that property and devote it to educational purposes. The 
amendment further provides that when the bureau shall cease to 
exist, such of the late so-called Confederate States as shall have 
made provision for education, without regard to color, should 
have the balance of money remaining on hand, to !>«■ divided 
among them in proportion to their population." 

The vote followed soon after the remark- of Mr. Elliot, and 
the bill, as amended, passed the House of Representativ 

The following is the bill as it went to the President for his 
approval : 

"An A.ct to continue in force and to ameml 'An Act to establish a Bureau 
for the relief of Freedmen and Refugees,' and for other purj 

" B ■ ! I by th ■ H R 

■I. That the act to establish a bureau for the 
relief of freedmen and r< approved March third, eighteen hundred 

and Bixty-five, shall continue in force tor the term of two years from and 
after the passage of this act. 

Sec. 2. And . That the supervision and care of 

bureau shall extend to all loyal refugees and freedmen, so far as the same 
1 be necessary, to enable them, as speedily as practicable, to become 
Belf-supporting citizens of the United States, and to aid them in making the 
freedom conferred by proclamation of the commander-in-chief, by emanci- 
pation under the laws of States, and by constitutional amendment, availa- 
ble to them and beneficial to the republic. 

"Sec 3. .! That the President shall, by and with 

the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint two assistant commissioners, 
in addition to those authorized by the act to which this is an amendment, 
who shall give like bonds and receive the same annual salaries provided in 
said act; and each of the assistant commissioners of the bureau shall have 
charge of one district containing such refugees or freedmen, \>> be assigned 
him by the commissioner, with the approval of the President And the 
commissioner shall, under the direction of the President, and so far as the 
same shall he. in his judgment, necessary for the efficient and economical 
administrati f the affairs of the bureau, appoint such agents, clerks, and 

sistants as may be required for the proper conduct of the bureau. Mili- 
tary 1 men may be detailed for service and assigned I i 
duty under this nd the President may, it", in his judgment, safe and 
judicious so to do. detail from the army all the officers and agents of this 
bureau; but no officer so assigned shall have increase of pay or allowanc< - 
Bach agent w clerk, not hi authorized by law eing a military 



THE FREE DM EM. 299 

officer, shall have an annual salary of not less than five hundred dollars nor 
more than twelve hundred dollars, according to the service required of him. 

And it shall lie the duty of the commissioner, when it can he don.- < sil- 
ently with public interest, to appoint, as assistant commissioners, agents, 
and clerks, such men as have proved their loyalty by faithful service in the 
armies of the Union during the rebellion. And all persons appointed to 
service under this act. and the act to which this is an amendment, shall be 
so far deemed in the military service of the United States as to be under 
the military jurisdiction and entitled to the military protection of the Gov- 
ernment while in discharge of the duties of their office. 

"Sbo. 4. And hi' it further enacted, That officers of the Veteran Reserve 
Corps or of the volunteer service, now on duty in the Freedmen's Bureau 
as assistant commissioner-, agents, medical officers, or in other capacities, 
whose regiments or corps have been or may hereafter he mustered out of 
service, may be retained upon such duty as officers of said bureau, with the 
same compensation as is now provided by law for their respective grades; 
and the Secretary of War shall have power to fill vacancies until other of- 
ficers can be detailed in their places without detriment to the public service. 

"Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the second section of the act to 
which this i-, an amendment shall be deemed to authorize the Secretary of 
War to issue such medical stores or other supplies, and transportation, and 
afford such medical or other aid as may be needful for the purposes named 
in said section: Provided, That no person shall be deemed 'destitute,' 'suf- 
fering,' or 'dependent upon the Government for support,' within the mean- 
ing of this act, who is aide to find employment, and could, by proper industry 
or exertion, avoid such destitution, suffering, or dependence. 

"Sec. 6. Whereas, by the provisions of an act approved February sixth, 
eighteen hundred and sixty-three, entitled 'An act to amend an act entitled 
"An act for the collection of direct taxes in insurrectionary districts within 
the United Stat.-, and for other purposes," approved June seventh, eighteen 
hundred and sixty-two,' certain lands in the parishes of Saint Helena and 
Saint Luke, South Carolina, were bid in by the United States at public tax 
sale<. and, by the limitation of said act, the time of redemption of said 
lands has expired; and whereas, in accordance with instructions issued by 
President Lincoln on the sixteenth day of September, eighteen hundred and 
sixty-three, to the United States direct tax commissioners lor South Caro- 
lina, certain lands hid in by the United States in the parish of Saint Sel- 
ena, in said State, were in part sold by the said tax commissioners to 'heads 
of families of the African race,' in parcels of not more than twenty acres 
to each purchaser; ami whereas, under the said instructions, the said tax 
commissioners did also set apart as 'school-farms' certain parcels of land in 
said parish, numbered in their plats from one to sixty-three inclusive, mak- 
ing an aggregate of six thousand acres, more or less: Therefore, be it further 
That the sales made to 'heads of families of the African race,' un- 
der the instructions of President Lincoln to the United States direct tax; 
commissioners for South Carolina, of date of September sixteenth, eighteen 
hundred and sixty-three, arc hereby confirmed and established; ami all 
leases which have 1 D made to such of families' by said direct 



Q 



00 TIIE THIRD Wl.VT 11 CONGRE& 



tax commissioners shall be changed into certificates of Bale in :tll cases 
wherein the lease provides for such substitution; and all the I >w re- 

maining unsold, which come within the same designation, being 
Band acres, more or less, shall be disposed of according to Baid instruct 

"Sec. 7. .1 ■•. That all other lands bid in by the 

United States al tax Bales being thirty-eight thousand acres, mon 
and now in the bands of the Baid tax commissioners as the pr f the 

United States, in the parishes of Saint Helena and Saint Lul opting 

the 'school-farms,' as specified in the preceding section, and bo much as 
may essary for military and naval purposes at Hilton Head, Bay 

Point, and Land s End, and excepting ahjo the city of Port Royal, on Saint 
Helena island, and the town of Beaufort, shall be disposed of in i 
twen d ■ dollar and fifty rent- per acre, to • nd to 

such only, as have ar.iiiir.Ml and are now occupying lands under and a. 
ably to the provisions of General Sherman's special field order, dated a ; 
vannah, Georgia, January sixteenth, eighteen hundred and Bixty-fivej and the 
remaining lands, it any. shall be disposed of, in like manner, t i Buch per- 
sons as had acquired lands agreeably to the Baid order of General Sherman, 
but who have been disp I by the restoration of the saj rmer 

owners: /' That the lands Bold in compliance with the provit 

of this and the preceding section -hall not be alienate. 1 by their purcb - s 
within six years from and alter the passage of this act 

"Sec. 8. And bt it fw . That the 'school-farms' in the p 

of Saint Helena, South Carolina, shall be Bold, subject to any leases of the 
same, by the sai.l tax commissioners, at public auction, on or befi 

laj of January, eighteen hundred and Bixty-seven, at no*, less than ten 
dollars per acre; and the lots in the city of Port Royal, as laid down by 
the Baid tax commissioners, and the lots and houses in th< of Beau- 

fort, which are still held in like manner, shall be sold at public auction; 
and the proc said -ales, alter paying expenses of the - and 

Bales, shall be invested in United States bonds, the interest of which shall 
be appropriated, under the direction of the commissioner, to the Bupporl of 
Bchools, without distinction of color or rare, on the islands in the parishes 
of Saint Helena and Saint Luke. 

"Seo. 9. And ■ '. That the assistant commissioners for 

South Carolina and Georgia are hereby authorized to examine the claims to 
lands in their respective States which are claimed under I 
General Sherman's special field order, and to give each person havii 
valid claim a warrant upon the direct tax commissioners for South Caro- 
lina for twenty acres of land: and the said direct tax commise shall 
issue to every person, or i.> his or her heirs, but in no case to anj assigns, 
presenting such warrant, a lease of twenty acre- of land, as provided for 
en, for the term of six years; but, at any time thereafter, upon 
the payment of a sum n ling on.' dollar and lilt be per acre, the 

u holding su. h lease -ball be entitled to a certificate ><\' Bale ol 
tract of twenty a. -re- from the direct tax commissioner or Buch officer as 
ma\ be authorized to issue the same; but no warrant shall be held valid 
longer than two years after tie 1 issue of the same. 



THE FREEDM / /. \ 301 

"Seo. 10. And be it further enacted, That the direel tax commissioners for 
South Carolina are hereby authorized and required, at the earliesl day prac- 
ticable, to survey the lands designated in section seven into lots of twenty 
acres each, with proper metes and bounds distinctly marked, so thai the sev- 
eral bracts shall be convenient in form, and, as near as practicable, have 
an average of fertility and woodland; and the expense of such surveys shall 
h.' paid from the proceeds of sales of said lands, or, if sooner required, out 
of any moneys received for other lands on these islands, sold by the United 
States for taxes, and now in the hands of the direct tax commissioners. 

"Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That restoration of the lands now oc- 
cupied by persons under General Sherman's special field order, dated at 
Savannah, Georgia, January sixteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, shall 
not be made until after the crops of the present year shall have he. mi gath- 
ered by the occupants of said lands, nor until a fair compensation shall 
have been made to them by the former owners of said lands, or their legal 
representatives, for all improvements or betterments erected or constructed 
thereon, and after due notice of the same being done shall have been given 
by the assistant commissioner. 

"Sec. 12. And be it further enacted,, That the commissioner shall have 
power to seize, hold, use, lease, or sell, all buildings and tenements, and 
any lands appertaining to the same, or otherwise, held under claim or title 
by the late so-called Confederate States, and any buildings or lands held in 
trust for the same by any person or persons, and to use the same or appro- 
priate the proceeds derived therefrom to the education of the freed people; 
and whenever the bureau shall cease to exist, such of the late so-called < Ion- 
federate States as shall have made provision for the education of their citi- 
zens, without distinction of color, shall receive the sum remaining unex- 
pended of such sales or rentals, which shall be distributed among said States 
for educational purposes in proportion to their population. 

"Sec. 13. And be it further enacted, That the commissioner of this bureau 
shall at all times cooperate with private benevolent associations of citizens 
in aid of freedmen, and with agents and teachers, duly accredited and ap- 
pointed by them, and shall hire or provide by lease buildings for purposes 
of education whenever such associations shall, without cost to the Govern- 
ment, provide suitable teachers and means of instruction; and he shall fur- 
nish protection as may be required for the safe conduct of such schools. 

"Sec. 14. And be it further enacted, That in every State or district where 
the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has been interrupted by the re- 
bellion, and until the same shall be fully restored, and in every State or dis- 
trict whose constitutional relations to the Government have been practically 
discontinued by the rebellion, and until such State shall have been restored 
in such relations, and shall be duly represented in the Congress of the United 
States, the right to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give 
evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and per- 
sonal property, and to have full and equal benefit of all laws and proc 1- 

ings concerning personal liberty, personal security, and the acquisition, 
enjoyment, and disposition of estate, real and personal, including the con- 
stitutional right to bear arms, shall be secured to and enjoyed by all the 



30% THE THIRTY-NINTH COJ\ 

citizens of Bach State or dial I without ^r color, or previ- 

adition of Blavery. And whenever in either of Baid States or di-n ■', 

the ordinary course of judicial proc Iin_- has been interrupted by the 

rebellion, and until the -aim- shall be fully restored, and until Buch State 
shall bave been restored in its constitutional relations t«i th< I rament, 

i Bhall be duly represented in the Congress of the- United 3 i4 - the 
President, Bhall, through the commissioner and the offici lureau, 

and under such rules and regulations as the Pri - through die Secretary 

of War. Bhall prescribe, extend military protection and have military juris- 
diction over all cases and questions concerning the free enjoyment of Buch 
immunities and rights; and no penalty or punishment for any violation of 
law shall be imposed or permitted because of ra r color, or previous con- 
dition of slavery, other or greater than the penalty or punishment to which 
white persons may be liable by law for the like offense. But the jurisdic- 
tion conferred by this section upon the officers of the bureau Bhall not ex- 
ist in any State where the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has not 
been interrupted by the rebellion, and shall cease in every State when the 
courts of the State and the United States are not disturbed in the peace- 
able course of justice, and after Buch State shall be fully restore 1 in it- con- 
stitutional relations to the Government, and shall be duly represented in the 
Congress of the United States. 

"Sec. 15. And be it •', That the officers, agents, and employ- 

ees of this bureau, before entering upon the duties of their ol 
the oath prescribed in the first section of the act to which this is an amend- 
ment; and all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this 
act are hereby repealed. 

< )u the 16th of July the President returned the bill to the 
House of RepresentativeSj in which it originated, with his "ob- 
jections thereto" in writing. The following is 

THE VETO MESSAGE. 

/' House of Representative 
A careful examination of the bill passed by the two houses of Cong 
entitled 'An act to continue in force and to amend "An - iblish a 

bureau for the relief of freedmen and refu md for other purposes has 

convinced me that the legislation which it proposes would not be consistent 
with the welfare of the country, and that it falls clearly within the reasons 
assigned in my message of the 19th of February last, returning without my 
nature a Bimilar measure which originated in the Senate. It i- not my 
purpose to repeat the objections which I then urged They .. resh in 

your recollection, and ran be readily examined as a part of the records of 
one branch of the National Legislature. Adhering to tin- principles set forth 
in that message, 1 dom reaffirm them, and the line of policy therein indi- 
cated. 

"The only ground upon which this kind of legislation can be justified is 
that of the war-making power. The act of which this bill was intended as 



THE FREEDMEX. SOS 

amendatory was passed during the existent f the war. By its own pro- 
visions, it is to terminate within one year from the cessation of hostilities 
and the declaration of peace. It is therefore yet in existence, and it is 
likely that it will continue in force as long as the freedmen may require the 
benefit of its provisions. It will certainly remain in operation as a law 
until some months subsequent to tin' meeting of the next session of Con- 
- when, if experience shall make evident the necessity of additional 
legislation, the two houses will have ample time to mature and pass the 
requisite measures. In the mean time the questions arise, Why should this 
war measure lie continued beyond the period designated in the original act? 
and why, in time of peace, should military tribunals be created to continue 
until each 'State shall be fully restored in its constitutional relations to the 
Government, and shall lie duly represented in the. Congress of the United 
States'.'' It was manifest with respect to the act approved March 3, 1865, 
that prudence and wisdom alike required that jurisdiction over all cases 
concerning the free enjoyment of the immunities and rights of citizenship, 
a- well as the protection of person and property, should be conferred upon 
some tribunal in every State or district where the ordinary course of judicial 
proceeding was interrupted by the rebellion, and until the same should be 
fully restored. At that time, therefore, an urgent necessity existed for the 
passage of some such law. Now, however, war has substantially ceased; 
the ordinary course of judicial proceedings is no longer interrupted; the 
courts, both State and Federal, are in full, complete, and successful opera- 
tion, and through them every person, regardless of race or color, is entitled 
to and can be heard. The protection granted to the white citizen is al- 
ready- conferred by law upon the freedman ; strong and stringent guards, by- 
way of penalties and punishments, are thrown around his person and prop- 
erty, and it is believed that ample protection will be afforded him by due 
process of law, without resort to the dangerous expedient of 'military tri- 
bunals.' now that the war has been brought to a close. The necessity no 
longer existing for such tribunals, which had their origin in the war, grave 
objections to their continuance must present themselves to the minds of all 
reflecting and dispassionate men. Independently of the danger in represen- 
tative republics of conferring upon the military, in time of peace, extraor- 
dinary powers — so carefully guarded against by the patriots and statesmen 
of the earlier days of the republic, so frequently the ruin of governments 
founded upon the same free principle, and subversive of the rights and lib- 
erties of the citizen — the question of practical economy earnestly commends 
itself to the consideration of the law-making power. With an immense 
debt already burdening the incomes of the industrial and laboring classes, 
a due regard for their interests, so inseparably connected with the welfare 
of the country, should prompt us to rigid economy and retrenchment, and 
influence us to abstain from all legislation that would unnecessarily inci 
the public indebtedness. Tested by this rule of sound political wisdom, I 
can see no reason for the establishment of the 'military jurisdiction' con- 
ferred upon the officials of the bureau by the fourteenth section of the bill. 
"By the laws of the United States, and of the different States, competent 
courts, Federal and State, have been established, and are now in full prac 



304 T]II: Timrrr-.Yi.vni cojvgi 

tical operation. Bj means of these civil tribunals ample redress is afl i 
for all private wr whether to the pri--.ni or to the property of the citi- 

zen without denial or unnecessary delay. They are open to all, without 
lor or race. I feel well assured that it will be better t" trust 

ights, privil< I immunities of the - t" tribunals - i stab- 

iished, and presided over by competent and impartial judges, bound by fixed 
rules of law and evidence, and where the rights of trial by jury is guaran- 
teed and secured, than to the caprice and judgment of an officer of the 
bureau, who, ir is possible, may be entirely iguorant of the principles that 
underlie the just administration of 1 1 » « - law. There is danger, too, that con- 
flict of jurisdiction will frequently arise between the civil courts and these 
military tribunals, each having concurrent jurisdiction over the person and 
the cause of action —the one judicature administered and controlled by civil 
law, the other by the military. How is the conflict to be settled, and who 

determine between tin- two tribunals when it arises? In my opinion 
it is wise to guard against such conflict by leaving to the courts and juries 
the protection of all civil rights and the redress of all civil grievances. 

"The fact can not be denied that since the actual cessation of hostili- 
ties many acts of violence — Buch, perhaps, as bad never been witnessed in 
their previous history — have occurred in the States involved in the recent 

lion. I believe, however, that public sentiment will sustain me in the 
assertion that such deeds of wrong are not confined to any particular State 
or section, but are manifested over the '■mire country — demonstrating that 
the cause that produced them does not depend upon any particular locality, 
but i* the result of the agitation and derangement incident to a long and 
bloody civil war. While the prevalence of such disorders must be greatly 
deplored, their occasional and temporary occurrence would seem to furnish 
no necessity for the extension of the bureau beyond the period fixed in the 
original act Besides the objections which 1 have thus briefly stated. 1 may 

upon your consideration the additional reason that recent developments 
in regard to the practical operations of the bureau, in many of the State-, 
show that in numerous instances it is used by its agents as a means of pro- 
moting their individual advantage, and that the f'reedmen are employed for 
the advancement of the personal ends of the officers, instead of their own 
improvement and welfar< — thus confirming the fears originally entertained 
by many that the continuation of such a bureau lor any unnecessary length 
of time would inevitably result in fraud, corruption, and oppression. 

"It is proper to state that in cases of this character investigations have 

I ii promptly ordered, and the offender punished, whenever his guilt has 

been satisfactorily established As another reason against the necessity of 
the legislation contemplated by this measure, reference may he had to the 

•Civil Rights Bill, now a law of the land, and which will 1m- faithfully exe- 
cuted as long a- it shall remain unrepealed, and may not be declared un- 
constitutional by court- of competent jurisdiction By that act. it is enacted 
"that all persons born in the United States, and not subject to any foreign 

power, excluding Indians not taxed, are herehy declared to he citizens of the 

United States; and such eiti/.eii.-, of every race ami color, without regard to 
any previous con lition of sla\er\ or involuntary servitude, except as a pun- 



THE FREED MEN. 305 

ishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall 
have the same right in every State and Territory of the United States, to 
make and enforce contracts, to sue, to be parties, and give evidence, to in- 
herit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, 
and to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security 
of person and property, as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject 
to like punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none other, any law. stat- 
ute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.' 

"By the provisions of the act full protection is afforded, through the dis- 
trict courts of the United States, to all persons injured, and whose privi- 
leges, as they are declared, are in any way impaired, and heavy penalties 
are denounced against the person who wilfully violates the law. I need not 
state that that law did not receive my approval, yet its remedies are far pref- 
erable to those proposed in the present bill — the one being civil and the 
other military. 

" By the sixth section of the bill herewith returned, certain proceedings 
by which the lands in the ' parishes of St. Helena and St. Luke, South 
Carolina,' were sold and bid in, and afterward disposed of by the tax com- 
missioners, are ratified and confirmed. By the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, 
and eleventh sections, provisions by law are made for the disposal of the 
lands thus acquired to a particular class of citizens. While the quieting of 
titles is deemed very important and desirable, the discrimination made in 
the bill seems objectiouable, as does also the attempt to confer upon the 
commissioners judicial powers, by which citizens of the United States are 
to be deprived of their property in a mode contrary to that provision of 
the Constitution which declares that no person ' shall be deprived of life, 
liberty, or property, without due process of law.' As a general principle, 
such legislation is unsafe, unwise, partial, and unconstitutional. It may 
deprive persons of their property who are equally deserving objects of the 
nation's bounty, as those whom, by this legislation. Congress seeks to ben- 
efit. The title to the land thus to be proportioned out to a favored class of 
citizens must depend upon the regularity of the tax sale under the law as 
it existed at the time of the sale, and no subsequent legislation can give 
validity to the rights thus acquired against the original claimants. The 
attention of Congress is therefore invited to a more mature consideration 
of the measures proposed in these sections of the bill. 

"In conclusion, T again urge upon Congress the danger of class legisla- 
tion, so well calculated to keep the public mind in a state of uncertain ex- 
pectation, disquiet, and restlessness, and to encourage interested hopes and 
fears that the National Government will continue to furnish to classes of 
citizens, in the several States, means for support and maintenance, regard- 
less of whether they pursue a life of indolence or labor, and regardless, also, 
of the constitutional limitations of the national authority in times of peace 
and tranquillity. 

"The bill is herewith returned to the House of Representatives, in which 

it originated, for its final action. 

"ANDREW JOHNSON. 

"Washington, D. C, July 16, I860." 

20 



306 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

As soon as the reading of thia document had been completed, 
a motion was passed thai it should be lai<l on the table and printed. 
Notice was given thai it would be called up for the action of the 
Huns '<mi the following day. Mr. Le Blond, a Democrat, -ult- 

sted that it would be too long to wait until to-morrow to p - 
it over the veto, and without debate. The sooner action was 
taken, the more apparent would be the bad animus. 

•• I have no objection," said Mr. Eliot, taking him at his word. 
Others said, "There is no objection," whereupon the vote was re- 
considered by which the matter was postponed. 

The motion to reconsider the postponement was carried, and 
the previous question called, "Shall this bill become a law, the 
objections of the President to the contrary notwithstanding?" 

"I do not see why we need be in such a hurry," said Mr. 
Rogers. 

"One of your own side suggested that the vote better be taken 
now," replied Mr. Ashley. 

" Well, he was not in earnest, of course," said Mr. Rogers, 
creating some mirth by the remark. 

"I hope the gentleman will make no objection," said Mr. 
Le Blond, addressing his remark to Mr. Rogers. 

Mr. Ward suggested that "the Democrat- should choose their 
leader, and not confuse us in this way." 

Without further parley, the vote was one hundred and four in 
the affirmative, thirty-three in the negative, and forty-five "not 
voting." The Speaker then announced, "Two-thirds having 
voted in the affirmative, the bill has. notwithstanding the objec- 
tions of the President, again passed." 

The Clerk of the House of Representatives immediately an- 
nounced the action of that body to the Senate. Other business 
was at one laid aside, and the Veto Message was read in the 

Senate. 

Mr. Hendricks and Mr. Saulsbury then addressed the Senate 
in support of the position of the President. The question being 
taken, thirty-three voted for and twelve against the bill. There- 
upon the President pro tempore announced, " Two-thirds of this 
body have passed the bill, and it having been certified that two- 
thirds of the House of Representatives have voted for this bill, 
1 now pronounce that this bill has b me a law." 



RECOjYSTR UCTION. 3 07 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

FIRST WORDS ON RECONSTRUCTION. 

Responsibility of the Republican Party — Its Power and Position — In- 
itiatory Step — Mr. Stevens steaks for Himself — Condition of the Reb- 
el States — Constitutional Authority under which Congress should act 
— Estoppel — What constitutes Congress — The First Duty — Basis op 
Representation — Duty on Exports — Two important Principles — Mr. 
Raymond's Theory — Rebel States still in the Union — Consequences 
of the Radical Theory — Conditions to be required — State Sover- 
eignty — Rebel Debt — Prohibition of Slavery — Two Policies con- 
trasted — Reply of Mr. Jenckes — Difference in Terms, not in Substance 
— Logic of the Conservatives leads to the Results of the Radicals. 

HAVING traced the progress through Congress of the great 
measures relating to civil rights and protection of the 
freednien, it is now proper to go back to an earlier period 
in this legislative history, and trace what was said and done upon 
a subject which, more than any other, awakened the interest and 
solicitude of the American people — the subject of Reconstruction. 

The Republican party had a majority of more than one hun- 
dred in the House, and after all its losses, retained more than two 
thirds of the Senate. As a consequence oi' this great preponder- 
ance of power, the party possessing it was justly held responsible 
for the manner in which the country should pass the important 
political crisis consequent upon the termination of the war in the 
overthrow of the rebellion. 

It became an important question for members of the Republi- 
can party in Congress to determine among themselves what line 
of policy they should pursue. 

The appointment of the Joint Committee of Fifteen on Recon- 
struction, was every-where regarded by the constituents of the 
majority as a most happy initiatory step. The whole country 
listened with eagerness to hear what words would be spoken in 



, S THE THIRTY-NINTH COJVGEE& 

I tigress to rive some clue to the course the committ .Id 

rect oamend. Words of no uncertain significance and weight wore 
uttered :it an early period in the session. 

On the 18th of December, ;i fortnight after the opening <>i* the 

ssion, Mr. Stevens announced his opinion- on reconstruction 
with great boldness ami distinctness. At the same time, seeing 
himself much in advance of many of his party, and fearing 1 
his opinion- might alarm the less resolute, h" declared: " I do not 
profess to speak their sentiments, nor must they 1»<' held respon- 
sible fir them." 

Mr. Stevens opened his speech with remarks on the condition 
of the rebel States. lie said: "The President a— limes, what no 
one doubts that the late rebel States have lost their constitutional 
relations to the Union, and are incapable of representation in 
Congress, except by permission of the Government. It matl 
hut little, with this admission, whether yon call them Stat 
of the Union, and now conquered territories, or assert that be- 
cause the Constitution forbids them to do what they did do, that 
thev are, therefore, only dead as to all national and political acti< 
and will remain so until the Government shall breathe into tie 
the breath of life anew and permit them to occupy their former 
position. In other words, that they are not out of the Union, 
but are only dead carcasses lying within the Union. In eitl 
case, it is very plain that it requires the action of Congress to 
enable them to form a State government and send Representatives 
to Congress. Nobody, 1 believe, pretends that with their old 
constitutions and frames of government they can be permitted to 
claim their old riffhts under the Constitution. Thev have torn 
their constitutional States into atoms, and built on their founda- 
tions fabrics of a totally different character. Dead men can I 
raise themselves. Dead State- can not restore their own exi I 
f as it was.' Whose especial duty is it to do it'.' In whom d< 
the Constitution place the power? Not in the judicial branch 
of Government, for it only adjudicates and does not prescribe 
laws. Not in the Executive, for he only executes and can not 
make laws. Not in the commander-in-chief of the armies, for 
he can only hold them under military rule until the sovereign 
legislative power of the conqueror shall give them law. 

"There is fortunately no difficulty in solving the question. 
There arc two provisions in the < institution, under one of which 



RECONSTR TJCTIOjY. S 09 

the case must fall. The fourth article says : ' New States may be 
admitted by the Congress into this Union.' In my judgment, 
this is the controlling provision in this case. Unless the law 
of nations is a dead letter, the late war between two acknowl- 
edged belligerents severed their original compacts, and broke all 
the ties that bound them together. The future condition of the 
conquered power depends on the will of the conqueror. They 
must come in as new States or remain as conquered provinces. 
Congress — the Senate and House of Representatives, with the 
concurrence of the President — is the only power that can act in 
the matter. But suppose, as some dreaming theorists imagine, 
that these States have never been out of the Union, but have 
only destroyed their State governments so as to be incapable of 
political action, then the fourth section of the fourth article ap- 
plies, which says, * The' United States shall guarantee to every 
State in this Union a republican form of government.' Who is 
the United States? Not the judiciary; not the President; but 
the sovereign power of the people, exercised through their Repre- 
sentatives in Congress, with the concurrence of the Executive. 
It means the political Government — the concurrent action of both 
branches of Congress and the Executive. The separate action of 
each amounts to nothing either in admitting new States or guar- 
anteeing republican governments to lapsed or outlawed States. 
Whence springs the preposterous idea that either the President, 
or the Senate, or the House of Representatives, acting separately, 
can determine the right of States to send members or Senators to 
the Congress of the Union '? " 

Mr. Stevens then cited authorities to prove that "if the so- 
called Confederate States of America were an independent bellig- 
erent, and were so acknowledged by the United States and by 
Europe, or had assumed and maintained an attitude which en- 
titled them to be considered and treated as a belligerent, then, 
during such time, they were precisely in the condition of a fort ign 
nation with whom we were at war; nor need their independence 
as a nation be acknowledged by us to produce that effect." 

Having read from a number of authorities to support his posi- 
tion, Mr. Stevens continued: "After such clear and repeated 
decisions, it is something worse than ridiculous to hear men oi 
respectable standing attempting to nullity the law of nations, and 
declare the Supreme Court of the United Suites in error, because, 



310 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

as the Constitution forbids it, the Si could not go out of the 
Union in fact. A respectable gentleman was lately reciting this 
argument, when he suddenly stopped and said: ' 1 * i « I you hear of 

that atrocious murder committed in our town".' A rebel <1< libe- 
rally murdered a Government official.' The person addressed 
said, '1 think yon arc mistaken. 1 ' How so? L saw it myself.' 
' You are wrong : no murder was or could be committed, for the 

law forbids it." 

••The theory thai the rebel State-, for four years a separate 
power and without representation in Congress, were all the time 
here in the Union, is a e,,od deal less ingenious ami respectable 
than tin' metaphysics of Berkeley, which proved that neither the 
world nor any human being was in existence. Ii' this theory 
were simply ridiculous it could he forgiven; hut ite effect i.-> 
deeply injurious to the stability of the nation. I can not doubt 
that the late Confederate States are out of tin 1 Union to all in- 
tents and purposes for which the conqueror may choose so to con- 
sider them. 

Mr. Steven- further maintained that the rebel State.- should be 
adjudged out of the Union on the ground of estoppel. "They 

are estopped," said he. " both by matter of record ami matter 
in pais. One of the first resolutions passed by seceded South 
Carolina in January, lstil, is as follow-: 

• Ttesol . That the separation of South Carolina from the 

Federal Union is final, and she has no further interest in the Constitution 
of the X " n i to< 1 States; and that the only appropriate negotiations between 
md the Federal Government are as to their mutual relations as fot 

Sta* 

Similar resolutions appear upon all their State and Confed- 
erate Government records. The speeches of their members of 
Congress, their generals and executive officers, and the answers 
of t in i i- < rovernment to our shameful suings lor peace, went upon 
the defiant ground that no terms would be offered or received 

!>t upon the prior acknowledgment of the entire and per- 
manent independence of the Confederate States. After this, to 
deny that we have a right to treat them a- a conquered bellig- 
erent, severed from the Union in fact, is not argument but mock- 
ery. Whether it be our interest to do so is the only question 
hereafter and more deliberately to lie considered. 

But suppose these powerful but now subdued belligerents, in- 



RECONSTRUCTION. 311 

stead of being out of the Union, arc merely destroyed, and are 
now lying about, a dead corpse, or with animation so suspended 
as to be incapable of action, and wholly unable to heal them- 
selves by any unaided movements of their own. Then they may 
fall under the provision of the Constitution which says, "the 
United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a re- 
publican form of government." Under that power, can the judi- 
ciary, or the President, or the commander-in-chief of the army, 
or the Senate or House of Representatives, acting separately, 
restore them to life and readmit them into the Union? I insist 
that if each acted separately, though the action of each was iden- 
tical with all the others, it would amount to nothing. Nothing 
but the joint action of the two houses of Congress and the con- 
currence of the President could do it. If the Senate admitted 
their Senators, and the House their members, it would have no 
effect on the future action of Congress. The Fortieth Congress 
might reject both. Such is the ragged record of Congress for 
the last four years." 

He cited a decision of the Supreme Court to show that " it 
rests with Congress to decide what government is the established 
one in a State," and then remarked : " But Congress does not 
mean the Senate, or the House of Representatives, and President, 
all acting severally. Their joint action constitutes Congress. 
Hence a law of Congress must be passed before any new State 
can be admitted or any dead ones revived. Until then, no mem- 
ber can be lawfully admitted into either house. Hence, it ap- 
pears with how little knowledge of constitutional law each branch 
is urged to admit members separately from these destroyed 
States. The provision that "each house shall be the judge of 
the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members," 
has not the most distant bearing on this question. Congress 
must create States and declare when they are entitled to be rep- 
resented. Then each house must judge whether the members 
presenting themselves from a recognized State possesses the requi- 
site qualifications of age, residence, and citizenship, and whether 
the election and returns are according to law. The houses sep- 
arately can judge of nothing else. 

"It is obvious from all this, that the first duty of Congress is 
to pass a law declaring the condition of these outside or defunct 
States, and providing proper civil government for them. Since 



312 THE THIRTY-MNTR COJTGRE& 

the conquest, they have.been governed by martial law. Military 
rule is necessarily despotic, and ought not to exist longer than i- 
absolutely necessary. Ajs there arc no symptoms that the people 
of these provinces will be prepared to participate in constitutional 
government for some years, I know of no arrangement so proper 
for them as territorial government. There they can learn the 
principles of freedom and eat the fruit of foul rebellion. Under 
such governments, while electing members to the territorial l< s 
islatures, they will necessarily mingle with those to whom Con- 
gress shall extend the right of suffrage. In territories Congress 
fixes the qualifications of electors, and I know of no better 
place nor 1 utter occasion for the conquered rebels and the con- 
queror to practice justice to all men and accustom themselves to 
make and obey equal laws." 

Mr. Stevens proceeded to specify amendments to the Constitu- 
tion which should be made before the late rebel States '• would be 
capable of acting in the Union." The first of those amendments 
would be to change the basis-of representation among the Stal - 
from federal numbers to actual voters. Alter explaining the 
operation of* this amendment, he depicted the consequences of 
readmitting the Southern States without this guarantee. " With 
the basis unchanged," said he. " the eighty-three Southern mem- 
bers, with the Democrats that will in the best of times he elected 
from the North, will always give them the majority in Congress 
and in the Electoral College. They will, at the very first e! 
tion, take possession of the White Bouse and the hall.- of Con- 
gress. I need not depict the ruin that would follow. Assump- 
tion of the rebel debt or repudiation of the Federal debt would 
be sure to follow; tin- oppression of the freedmen, the reamend- 
menl of their State constitutions, and the reestablishment of 

slavery would be the inevitable result." 

Mr.Stevens thus set forth the importance of a proposed amend- 
ment to allow Congress to lay a duty on exports: " It- impor- 
tance can not well be overstated. It is very obvious that for 
many years the South will not pay much under our internal rev- 
enue laws. The only article on which we can raise any consid- 
erable amount is cotton. It will be grown largely at one,. With 
ten cents a pound exporl duty, it would be furnished cheaper to 
foreign market- than they could obtain it from any other part 
of the world. The late war has shown that. Two million bales 



RECONSTR UCTIOjY. 3 13 

exported, at five hundred pounds to the bale, would yield $100,- 
000,000. This seems to be the ehief revenue we shall ever derive 
from the South. Besides, it would be a protection to that amount 
to our domestic manufactures. Other proposed amendments — to 
make all laws uniform, to prohibit the assumption of the rebel 
debt — are of vital importance, and the only thing that can pre- 
vent the combined force- of copperheads and secessionists from 
legislating against the interests of the Union whenever they may 
obtain an accidental majority. 

"But this is not all that we ought to do before these inveterate 
rebels are invited to participate in our legislation. We have 
turned, or are about to turn, loose four million slaves, without a 
hut to shelter them or a cent in their pockets. The infernal 
laws of slavery have prevented them from acquiring an education, 
understanding the commonest laws of contract, or of managing 
the ordinary business of life. This Congress is bound to provide 
for them until they can take care of themselves. If we do not 
furnish them with homesteads, and hedge them around with pro- 
tective laws; if we leave them to the legislation of their late 
masters, we had better have left them in bondage. Their condi- 
tion would be worse than that of our prisoners at Andersonville. 
If we fail in this great duty now, when we have the power, we 
shall deserve and receive the execration of history and of all 
future ages. 

"Two things are of vital importance: 1. So to establish a 
principle that none of the rebel States shall be counted in any 
of the amendments of the Constitution until they are duly ad- 
mitted into the family of States by the law-making power of their 
conqueror. For more than six months the amendment of the 
Constitution abolishing slavery has been ratified by the Legisla- 
tures of three-fourths of the Slates that acted on its passage by 
Congress, and which had Legislatures, or which were States ca- 
pable of acting, or required to act, on the question. 

"I take no account of the aggregation of whitewashed rebels, 
who, without any legal authority, have assembled in the capitals 
of the late rebel State's and simulated legislative bodies. Nor do 
I regard with any respect the cunning by-play into which they 
deluded the Secretary of State by frequent telegraphic announce- 
ments that 'South Carolina had adopted the amendment/ 'Ala- 
bama has adopted the amendment, being the twenty-seventh State,' 



314 THE THIRTY-NINTH coXCHK 

etc. This was intended to delude the people and accustom Con- 
gress to hear repeated the names of these extinct States as if they 
were alive, when, in truth, they have now no more existence than 
the revolted cities of Latium, two-thirds of win — ' people were 
colonized, and their property confiscated, and their rights of citi- 
zenship withdrawn by conquering and avenging Rome." 

A second thing of vital importance to the stability of this re- 
public, Mr. Stevens asserted to be "that it should now be sol- 
emnly decided what power can revive, recreate, and reinstate th< 
provinces into the family of States, and invest them with the 
rights of American citizens. It is time that Congress should 
assert its sovereignty, and assume something of the dignity of a 
Roman senate, h is fortunate that the President invites Con- 
gress to take this manly attitude After statin-', with great 
frankness, in his aide message, his theory — which, however, is 
found to be impracticable, and which, \ believe, very few now 
consider tenable — he refers the whole matter to the judgment of 
( Jongress. If ( longress should fail firmly and wisely to discharg 
that high duty, it is not the fault of the President." 

Mi-. Stevens closed his speech by setting the seal of reprobation 
upon a doctrine which i- becoming too fashionable, that "this 
a white man's Government." He uttered a severe rebuke to 
those who thus " mislead and miseducate the public mind." 

There were some Republicans in Congress who disagreed with 
Mr. Si, 'vens in his theory of the condition of the late rebel States, 
vet no one ventured immediately, to use a contemporary expression, 
"to take the Radical bull by the horns." 

At length, three day- afterward, Mr. Raymond, a- a represent- 
ative of the "Conservatives," ventured a reply. He thus set 
forth his theory as in opposition to that of Mr. Steven-: " 1 can 
uol be|i,. vr that these State- haw ever been out of the Union, or 
that they are now out of the Union. I can not believe that they 
ever have been, or arc now, in any sense ;i separate power. If 
they weic. sir, how and when did they become so"? They were 

oner Stale- of tlii- Union -that every one concedes; bound to 
the Union and made members of the Union by the Constitution 
of the United States. It'th.y ever went out of the Union, it was 
at some specific time and by soine specific act. Was it by the 
ordinance of secession? 1 think we all agree that an ordinance 
of secession passed by any State of this Union i- simply a nullity, 



RECONSTRUCTION. 315 

because it encounters in its practical operation the Constitution 
of the United States, which is the supreme law of the land. It 
could have no legal, actual force or validity. It could not oper- 
ate to effect any actual change in the relations of the States adopt- 
ing it to the National Government, still less to accomplish the 
removal of that State from the sovereign jurisdiction of the Con- 
stitution of the United States. 

" Well, sir, did the resolutions of these States, the declarations 
of their officials, the speeches of members of their Legislatures, 
or the utterances of their press accomplish the result? Certainly 
not. They could not possibly work any change whatever in the 
relations of these States to the General Government. All their 
ordinances and all their resolutions were simply declarations of a 
purpose to secede. Their secession, if it ever took place, certainly 
could not date from the time when their intention to secede was 
first announced. After declaring that intention, they proceeded 
to carry it into effect. How'? By war. By sustaining their 
purpose by arms against the force which the United States 
brought to bear against it. Did they sustain it? Were their 
arms victorious? If they were, then their secession was an ac- 
complished fact ; if not, it was nothing more than an abortive 
attempt, a purpose unfulfilled. This, then, is simply a question 
of fact, and we all know what the fact is. They did not succeed. 
They failed to maintain their ground by force of arms ; in other 
words, they failed to secede. 

" But the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens] insists 
that they did secede, and that this fact is not in the least affected 
by the other fact that the Constitution forbids secession. He says 
that the law forbids murder, but that murders are, nevertheless, 
committed. But there is no analogy between the two cases. If 
secession had been accomplished ; if these States had gone out, and 
overcome the armies that tried to prevent their going out, then 
the prohibition of the Constitution could not have altered the fiict. 
In the case of murder the man is killed, and murder is thus com- 
mitted in spite of the law. The fact of killing is essential to the 
committal of the crime, and the fact of going out is essential to 
secession. But in this case there was no such fact. I think L 
need not argue any further the position that the rebel States have 
never for one moment, by any ordinances of secession, or by any 
successful war, carried themselves beyond the rightful jurisdiction 



316 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 

of tin- Constitution of the United States. They have biterra] 
for a time the practical enforcement and exercise of that jurisdic- 
tion; they rendered it impossible for a time for this Government 
t.i enforce obedience to its laws ; but there has never been an hour 
when this Government, or this Congress, or this House, or the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania himself, ever conceded that those 
State- were beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution and laws 
of the I baited States." 

Referring to the citation of authorities made by Mr. Stevens, 
Mr. Raymond maintained that they did not lend the"slig] 
countenance to the inference which was drawn from th< 

In reply to the theory maintained by Mr. Stevens, that Sta 
forfeited their State existence by the fact of rebellion, Mr. Ray- 
mond said: "I do not see how there can be any such forfeiture 
involved or implied. The individual citizens of those States 
went into the rebellion. They thereby incurred certain penalties 
under the laws and < institution of the United State*. What the 
States did was to endeavor to interpose their Suite authority 
between the individual- in rebellion and the Government of the 
United States, which assumed, and which would carry out the 
assumption, to declare those individuals traitors for their acts. 
The individuals in the States who were in rebellion, it seems to 
me, were the only parties who, under the Constitution and laws 
of the United State-, could incur the penalties of treason. I 
know of no law, 1 know of nothing in the Constitution of the 
United States, I know of nothing in any recognized or established 
code of international law, which can punish a State as a State 
for any ad it may perform. It is certain that our Constitution 
assumes nothing of the kind. It does not deal with States, ex- 
cept in one or two instances, such a- election- of members oi 
Congress and the election of electors of President and V 

President. 

"Indeed, the main feature which distinguishes the Union un- 
der the Constitution from the old Confederation is this: that, 
where;!- the old Confederation did deal with Stat.- directly, 
making requisitions upon them for supplies and relying upon 
them for the execution of its laws, the Constitution of the United 
States, in order to form a more perfect Uuion, made it.- laws 
binding on the individual citizens oi' the several Stat.-, whether 
living in one State or in another. Congress, as the legislative 



RECONSTRUCTION. 317 

branch of this Government, enacts a law which shall he operative 
upon every individual within its jurisdiction. It is binding upon 
each individual citizen, and if he resists it by force, he is guilty 
of a crime, and is punished accordingly, any thing in the consti- 
tution or laws of his State to the contrary notwithstanding. But 
the States themselves are not touched by the laws of the United 
States or by the Constitution of the United States. A State can 
not be indicted; a State can not be tried; a State can not be 
hung for treason. The individuals in a State may be so tried 
and hung, but the State as an organization, as an organic mem- 
ber of the Union, still exists, whether its individual citizens com- 
mit treason or not." 

Mr. Raymond subsequently cited some of the consequences 
which he thought must follow the acceptance of the position as- 
sumed by Mr. Stevens. " If," said Mr. Raymond, " as he asserts, 
we have been waging war with an independent Power, with a 
separate nation, I can not see how we can talk of treason in con- 
nection with our recent conflict, or demand the execution of Davis 
or any body else as a traitor. Certainly if we were at war with 
any other foreign Power, we should not talk of the treason of 
those who were opposed to us in the field. If we were engaged 
in a war with France, and should take as prisoner the Emperor 
Napoleon, certainly we could not talk of him as a traitor or as 
liable to execution. I think that by adopting any such assump- 
tion as that of the honorable gentleman, Ave surrender the whole 
idea of treason and the punishment of traitors. I think, more- 
over, that we accept, virtually and practically, the doctrine of 
State sovereignty, the right of a State to withdraw from the 
Union, and to break up the Union at its own will and pleasure. 

" Another of the consequences of this doctrine, as it seems to 
me, would be our inability to talk of loyal men in the South. 
Loyal to what? Loyal to a foreign, independent Power, as the 
United States would become under those circumstances? Cer- 
tainly not. Simply disloyal to their own Government, and de- 
serters, or whatever you may choose to call them, from that to 
which they would owe allegiance, to a foreign and independent 
State. 

"Now, there is another consequence of the doctrine which I 
shall not dwell upon, but simply suggest. If that confederacy 
was an independent Power, a separate nation, it had the right to 



318 THE 'THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 

contract debts; and we, having overthrown and conquered that 
independent Power, according to the theory of the gentleman 
from Pennsylvania, would become the successors, the inheritors, 
of it- debts and assets, and we must pay them." 

Mr. Raymond set forth his theory of the conditions and rela- 
tion, of the late rebel States in the following language: "I cer- 
tainly do not think these States an- to be deall with by as as 
provinces —as simply so much territory — held to us by no other 
ties than those of conquest. I think we arc to deal with them as 
Siah- having State governments, Mill subject to the jurisdiction 
of the Constitution and law- of the United State-, -till under the 
constitutional control of the National Government; and that in 
our dealings with them we are to he guided and governed, not 
simply by our sovereign will and pleasure as couquerors, hut by 
the restrictions and limitations of the Constitution of the United 
States, precisely as we are restrained and limited in our dealings 
with all other States of the American Union." 

In answer to the question how we are to deal with the late 
rebel States, Mr. Raymond remarked: "I think we have a full 
and perfect right to require certain conditions in the nature of 
guarantees for the future, and that right rests, primarily and 
technically, on the surrender we may and must require at their 
hands. The rebellion has been defeated. A defeat always im- 
plies a surrender, and, in a political sense, a surrender implies 
more than the transfer of the arms u.-ed on the field of battle. 
It implies, in the case of civil war, a surrender of the principles 
and doctrines, of all the weapons and agencies, by which the war 
has been carried on. The military surrender was made on the 
field of battle, to our generals, as the agents and representatives of 
the Commander-in-chief of the armies of the United Stat--. 

•• N..w, there must he at the .aid of the war, a similar surrender 
on the political field of controversy. Thai surrender is due as an 

act of justice from the defeated party to the victorious party. It 
is due, al80, and we have a right to exact it. as a guarantee for 
the future. Why do we demand the sum aider of their arms by 
the vanquished in every battle? We do it that they may not 
renew the contest. Why do we Beek] in this and all similar 
cases, a surrender of the principle- for which they fought? It is 

that they may never again he made the basis of controversy and 
rebellion against the Government of the United States. 



RECONSTRUCTION. 319 

"Now, what are those principles which should be thus sur- 
rendered? The principle of State sovereignty is one of them. It 
was the corner-stone of the rebellion — at once its animating: 
spirit and its fundamental basis. Deeply ingrained as it was in 
the Southern heart, it must be surrendered. The ordinances in 
which it was embodied must not only be repealed, the principle 
itself must be abandoned, and the ordinances, so far as this war 
is concerned, be declared null and void, and that declaration must 
be embodied in their fundamental constitutions." 

The speech Mas here interrupted by Mr. Bingham, who insisted 
that the adoption of the principle in the State constitutions would 
not be sufficient guarantee. Adoption in the Constitution of the 
United States was essential to its permanent effective forte. 

Mr. Raymond thought the Constitution of the United States as 
plain as possible in its declaration against the doctrine of State 
sovereignty. If any more explicit denial could be got into the 
Constitution, he would favor it. 

" Another thing," said Mr. Raymond, " to be surrendered by 
the defeated rebellion is the obligation to pay the rebel war debt. 
We have the right to require this repudiation of their debt, 
because the money represented by that debt was one of the 
weapons with which they carried on the war against the Govern- 
ment of the United States. 

" There is another thing which we have the right to require, 
and that is the prohibition of slavery. We have the right to re- 
quire them to do this, not only in their State constitutions, but in 
the Constitution of the United States. And we have required it, 
and it has been conceded. They have also conceded that Congro-- 
may make such laws as may be requisite to carry that prohibition 
into effect, which includes such legislation as may be required to 
secure for them protection of their civil and personal rights — 
their ' right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' " 

Mr. Spaulding having inquired whether there was any limit to 
the right to make these requisitions, except the good judgment of 
Congress, Mr. Raymond answered : 

" My impression is that these requisitions are. made as a part 

of the terms of surrender which we have a right to demand at the 

hands of the defeated insurgents, and that it belongs, therefore, to 

the President, as Commander-in-chief of the army and navy of 

19 



820 the thii:ty-xixti[ coxt;i;i: 

tho United States, to make them, and to fix the limit as bo what 
they shall embrace." 

By way of setting forth the opinions of the " Radicals" in a^ 
strong a Light as possible, Mr. Raymond -aid: " It may he for the 

welfare <>t' this nation that we .-hall cherish toward the millions 
of our people lately in rebellion feelings of hatred and distrust ; 
that we shall nurse the bitterness their infamous treason has 
naturally and justly engendered, and make that the basis of our 
future dealings with them. Possibly we may best teach them the 
lessons of liberty, by visting upon them the worst ex< ;' des- 

potism. Possibly they may best Learn to practice justice toward 
other-, t<> admire and emulate our republican institution.-, by suf- 
fering at our hands the absolute rule we denounce in others. It 
may he best for us and for them that we discard, in all our deal- 
ings with them, all the obligations and requirements of the Con- 
stitution, and assert as the only law for them the unrestrained 
will of conquerors and masters." 

In contrast with this, he placed what he supposed to be a dif- 
ferent policy : ' l I would exact from them, or impose upon them 
through the constitutional Legislation of Congress, and by enlarg- 
ing and extending, if necessary, the scope and power- of" the 
l'Yeed men's Bureau, proper care and protection for the help] 
and friendless freedmen, so lately their slaves. I would exercise 
a rigid scrutiny into the character and loyalty of the men whom 
i hey may send to Congress, before 1 allowed them to participate 
in the high prerogative of Legislating for the nation. But I 
would seek to allay rather than stimulate the animosities and 
hatred, however just they may he, to which the war has given 
rise. Rut for our own sake as well as for theirs, I would not 
visit upon them a policy of confiscation which has been discarded 
in the policy and practical conduct of every civilized nation on 
the face of the globe." 

Mr. Raymond having closed his speech, it was moved that the 
Committee of the Whole should rise, but the motion was with- 
drawn to allow Mr. Jenckes, of Rhode Island, five minutes for 
reply. He said: "The gentleman states, and properly, that 
every act or ordinance of secession was a nullity. Undoubtedly 
it was. Upon that question of law we do not disagree. But he 
seems to me to overlook entirely what was the state of facts from 
the time of the passage of the ordinances of secession until the 



RECONSTRUCTION. 321 

time of the surrender of Lee's army. During that period what 
were the relations which all that territory — I will not use the 
term States, but all that territory — between the Potomac and the 
Rio Grande sustained to the Government of the United States? 
Who could see States there for any purpose for which legislation 
was required by the Constitution of the United States? 

"At the time of the passage of the ordinance of secession, 
States were organized there, in existence, in action, known to the 
Constitution and the constitutional authorities under it. But 
were they loyal ? Did they obey the Constitution of the United 
States ? This is a question that needs no answer other than that 
which is conveyed to every mind by the recollection of the last 
four years of war, with their expenditure of treasure and blood. 
Those States were not destroyed, in the technical language of the 
law — they simply died out. As their Governors passed out of 
office, as the terms of their legislatures expired, who knew those 
facts? None but themselves. And yet, behind this grand cordon 
of armies, stretching from here to the Rio Grande, there were 
States in existence, organized as States, but States in rebellion, 
occupying the territory belonging to the people of the United 
States. They were not acting in concert with this Government, 
but against it. That, Mr. Chairman, is a matter of fact. My 
eyes are not dimmed or blinded by the parchment upon which 
constitutions or laws are written. I, like the men who carried 
the bayonets and planted the cannon, recognize the fact that was 
before us during all this time. There was a state of rebellion. 
There were in that part of our territory no States known to our 
Constitution or the laws that we enact, or the officers whose duty 
it is to enforce those laws. 

" I recognize, too, the next fact. Bear in mind, I am simply 
stating now what I conceive to be the facts. The question as to 
what may be the law can be reserved for discussion on another 
occasion. I recognize fully the duties of the Executive. And it 
was the duty of the President of the United States, as the head 
of the civil and military power of this great republic — not l em- 
pire;' God forbid that this country should ever be so designated 
with applause or even with toleration — to beat down armed oppo- 
sition to it, whether it came from a foreign power or from domes- 
tic insurrection. That was the duty of the President, and he 
recognized it; and it was not the duty of any one in this Con- 
21 



TEE THI11T) -NINTH < 'ONG E /> R 

rainsay it. It was written on the face of the Constitution 
that the President was to Bee that the laws should be faithfully 
executed, and the power of tin- republic maintained, and he 
did so. 

"The next fad — the feci which -••(•in- to me to be the one most 
pertinent for consideration uow — is that the military power which 
was opposed to this Government has been destroyed. It was the 
duty of the Executive to see that this was done, and to report to 
the Congress of the United States that it has been done. But 
whal then? Then there comes the third question of feet, inti- 
mately connected with the last, and hardly separable from it. he- 
cause it requires the immediate action of the Executive and of 
Congress. All the power that existed in the shape of Confede- 
rated State- behind rebel bayonets and fortifications has fallen to 
the earth. The territory which these States in rebellion occu- 
pied was the property of the people of the United States, and 
never could be taken from us. I hold it to be a question of pub- 
lic law, worthy of consideration by the representatives of the 
American people, by the President and the Administration gene- 
rally, to ascertain what existed in the shape of civil constitutions 
and laws behind the military government that has been over- 
thrown. I hesitate not to say, here or elsewhere, that the Exec- 
utive of this Government has done his duty in this matter. All 
conquering nations, when they overcome a rebellious people by 
overthrowing their military power, look, as did the Government 
of Great Britain when it had overcome the mutiny in India, to 
see what government of a civil kind has existed or may exist 
from custom anion- the people who are conquered. 1 see no 
reason in this view to discriminate between the argument of the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania and the argument of the gentle- 
man from New York. It seems to me, that it' they will look at 
the particular questions which are now before us, and which 
require our action, the differences would be in terms and not in 
substance." 

The people of the predominant party generally acquiesced in 
the opinion of Mr. Jenckes, as expressed in the conclusion of his 
remarks as above presented. They conceived that the difference 
between the various view- of the whole question was " one of de- 
tails and not of essence." The question of reconstruction was 
purely practical. All shade- of opinion in the Republican party 



RECONSTRUCTION. 323 

blended in this : that the States in question were not to be restored 
until satisfactory pledges were given to the United States. All 
speculation or attempt at argument in reference to their abstract 
condition was consequently superfluous — "a pernicious abstrac- 
tion/' in the language of Mr. Lincoln. 

If some were not prepared to accept the deductions of Mr. Ste- 
vens, yet accepting the logic of Mr. Raymond, they would be 
carried almost as far. The latter held that the citizens of those 
States were defeated insurgents who must submit to any condi- 
tions of surrender imposed by the victorious commander. Certain 
concessions could be rightfully demanded as parts of their sur- 
render and conditions of their restoration. Their acquiescence 
had been required in a constitutional amendment affecting the 
great social and industrial interests of Southern society. After 
this none could deny the right, whatever might be the expediency, 
of requiring their assent to other amendments bearing upon the 
political structure of the Southern States. 

Some of the predominant party were willing to stop short in 
their demands upon the rebel States with requiring acceptance of 
the emancipation amendment, repudiation of the rebel debt, legal 
protection of freedmen, and revocation of the ordinances of seces- 
sion. The majority, however, were disposed to go still further, 
and demand other conditions and guarantees which should be- 
come a part of the fundamental law of the land. This was the 
practical work of reconstruction for which the Joint Committee 
of Fifteen was preparing the way, and upon which Congress was 
soon to enter. 



324 TJIE THIRTY- A I. VI 1 T COXGRES& 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE BASIS OF REPRESENTATION— IN THE HOI 

First work of the Joint Committee — The joint resolution proposing a 

INSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT — Mr. STEVENS' REASONS FOR SPEEDY ACTION — 

Protracted discussion commenced — Objections to the bill by Mb 
Kogers — Defense by Mr. Conkxing— Two other modes — How ato 

MIGHT EVADE THE LAW NOT A FINALITY WISCONSIN AND SoUTB I !AB0- 

L1NA — Amendment for Female Suffrage proposed — Oeth on Indiana 
and Massachusetts — Obscuration of the sun — More Radical remedy 
desired — A Kentuckiae gratified— Citations from the Census — Pre- 
mium for Treason— White Slaves — Power to amend well-nigh ex- 
hausted — Objections to the Suffrage Basis — " Race" and 'Color 
bigcous — Condition of the Question — Recommitted — Final passage. 

ALTHOUGH the Joint Committee of Fifteen were assiduous 
in their attention to the work assigned them, it was not 
until the 22d of January, 1866, that they were ready to 
make a partial report and recommend a practical measure for the 
consideration of Congress. 

On that day Mr. Fessenden, of the Senate, and Mr. Steven-, 
of the House of Representatives, brought before those bodies re- 
spectively a partial report from the committee, recommending the 
passage of the following joint resolution: 

/.' wived by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Un i I States of 
in Congress assembled, (two-thirds of both houses concurring,) That 
the following article be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States as 
an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified 
by three-fourths of the said Legislatures, shall be valid as part of said Con- 
stitution, namely : 

Akiui.k — . Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among 
the several States which may !><• inoluded within this Union acoording to 
their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each 
State, excluding Indians not taxed: Provided, Thai whenever the elective 
franchise shall be denied ox abridged in any State on account of race or 
color, ull persons of such race or color shall be excluded from the basis of 
representation 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 325 

In the Senate this subject was laid over, ami was not reached 
for several days, as the Freedmen's Bureau Bill was then under 
discussion. 

The subject was pressed upon the attention of the House for 
immediate action. Mr. Stevens had no intention to make a 
speech, since the question had been under consideration by every 
member for the last six weeks. He remarked, -however: " There 
are twenty-two States whose Legislatures are now in session, some 
of which will adjourn within two or three weeks. It is very de- 
sirable, if this amendment is to be adopted, that it should go forth 
to be acted upon by the Legislatmes now in session. It proposes 
to change the present basis of representation to a representation 
upon all persons, with the proviso that wherever any State excludes 
a particular class of persons from the elective franchise, that State 
to that extent shall not be entitled to be represented in Congress. 
It does not deny to the States the right to regulate the elective 
franchise as they please; but it does say to a State, 'If you ex- 
clude from the right of suffrage Frenchmen, Irishmen, or any par- 
ticular class of people, none of that class of persons shall be 
counted in fixing your representation in this House. You may 
allow them to vote or not, as you please; but if you do allow 
them to vote, they will be counted and represented here ; while 
if you do not allow them to vote, no one shall be authorized to 
represent them here; they shall be excluded from the basis of 
representation.' " 

As indicative of the apparent harmony of sentiments prevailing 
on the question, Mr. Wilson said that the Committee on the 
Judiciary had determined to report a proposition substantially 
identical with that offered by Mr. Stevens. 

It was deemed important to have the joint resolution passed 
as soon as possible, that it might go before the State Legislatures 
then in session for their ratification before their adjournment. 
The member who had the measure in charge desired, after one or 
two speeches on either side, to have the question put to vote, and 
have the resolution passed before the sun went down. Such 
action, however, seemed to the House too hasty, and a discussion 
of the measure was entered upon, which ran through many days. 
Mr. Rogers, a member of the committee, oifered a minority 
report, and addressed the House in opposition to the proposed 
amendment of the Constitution. He thus presented his view of 



THE THIRT1 '-, \ 7. \ 77/ COJ\ GR E& - 

the object of the measure proposed: " I* appears to have in its 
body, in its soul, and in its life only one great object and aim; 
that is, to debase and degrade the white race, and to place upon 
a higher footing than the white men are placed, under the Con- 
stitution, this African race. It is a proposition to change the 
organic law of the land with regard to one of the fundamental 
principles which was laid down by our fathers at the formation 
of the Constitution as an axiom of civil and political liberty, that 
taxation and representation should always go I gether. Ii' gentle- 
men will examine this proposed amendment of the Constitution, 
they will see that it is in violation of that great doctrine which 
proclaimed by the fathers of the republic when they enun- 
ciated the Declaration uf Independence, and protested against 
the tyranny and despotism of England, because she attempted to 
tax the people of the colonies without allowing them representa- 
tion in the councils of the kingdom. The amendment now under 
consideration proposes the very same identical thing that the 
Parliament of England proposed when it attempted to inflict 
upon the American colonies taxation without allowing the people 
of the colonic- to have representatives in the Parliament of E _ 
land to represent them upon the question whether they should be 
taxed by the mother country or not. 

The first objection 1 have to the passage of this joint resolution 
is, that it is violative of the main principle upon which the Revo- 
lutionary War was conducted, and which induced our father.- to 
r the harbors of Boston and New York and throw the tea 
into the water. Because the British people attempted to inflict 
taxation upon them with regard to that tea, and refused to allow 
them representation in the Parliament of England, our fathers 
rebelled against their mother country. What has come over the 
fortunes and happiness of the people of this country that the 
great principle of the Constitution should now be violated, that 
principle for which our fathers spilt their blood to sustain, the 
great axiom of American liberty, that taxation never should be 
I upon a people unless that people have a corresponding 
representation? If this amendment to the Constitution should 
be carried into effect, it will prevent any Stale, North, or South, 
from allowing qualified suffrage to it- colored population, except 
upon forfeiture of representation ; and if qualified suffrage should 
be allowed to the colored population of any State in this Union, 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 327 

on account of race of color, and but one single negro should be 
deprived of his vote by failure to meet the requirements of the 
qualification imposed, that State would be denied representation 
for the whole of that colored population — men, women, and 
children. 

" More than that : this bill attempts, in an indirect manner, to 
have passed upon, by the Legislatures of the different States, a 
question which the party in power dare not boldly and openly 
meet before the people of this country, because there can be but 
one object lying at the foundation of this bill — an object which 
has been explained and expatiated upon in this House — and that 
object, as I have said, is, through the Federal power, to force the 
States to adopt unqualified negro suffrage, by holding over them 
the penalty of being deprived of representation according to 
population. 

"But I object to this joint resolution upon another ground — 
upon the same ground that I objected to the passage of the 
Negro Suffrage Bill for the District of Columbia — without con- 
sulting the people. It has been said in this country that all 
power emanates from the people. And I say that to submit 
this grave question to the consideration and decision of partisan 
Legislatures in the different States — Legislatures which were 
elected without any regard to this question — is violative of the 
great principles which lie at the foundations of the liberties of 
this country; that no organic law, affecting the whole people. 
should be passed before submitting it to the people for their rati- 
fication or rejection. Now this joint resolution proposes simply 
to submit this amendment for ratification to the Legislatures of 
the different States. The Legislatures are not the States; the 
Legislatures are not the people in their sovereign capacity; Leg- 
islatures are not the source from which all power emanates. But 
the people, the sacred /»<>ji!e, in the exercise of their sovereign 
power, either at the ballot-box or in conventions, are the only 
true and primer forum to which such grave and serious que>tions 
should be submitted. 

" I maintain that the Constitution of the United State-, as it 
now exists, is not as liberal toward the Southern States, now that 
slavery has been abolished, as it was before the abolition of 
slavery. Why. sir, in the days of the past, under our Constitu- 
tion, the Southern States have been allowed a representation for 



328 THE THIIiTY-M.YTIl CONGRESS. 

a population thai was not classed as citizens <>r people; they were 
allowed a representation for people who had no political status in 
the State; persons who were not entitled even to exercise the 
right <•!' coming hit < > a court of civil justice as a plaintiff or 
defendant in the prosecution or defense of a -nit. 

" Now, after the raging tire- of war have swept from the 
domain of every State in the South the pernicious institution of 
slavery ; after the result has been that every slave has received 
his freedom; after the slaves have gained more by the success of 
this war than any other class of people in the United State-, white 
men, men who are the representatives of the white race, come 
here proposing to compel the States, on pain of being deprived of 
a portion of their representation, to allow all the negroes within 
their limits to vote, without regard to qualification or any thing 
else, while under the same provision the State may, by its organic 
law, impose qualifications and condition- upon the exercise of the 
right of suffrage by the white population. The proposed amend- 
ment to the Constitution undertakes to consolidate the power in 
the Federal Government. It throws out a menace to the States, 
and the inevitable result of the passage would be to induce every 
State in the Union to adopt unqualified negro suffrage, so as not 
to deprive them of the great and inestimable right of representa- 
tion for that class of population in the halls of the legislation of 
the United States." 

Mr. ( Jonkline, also a member of the Reconstruction ( Jommittee, 
made an argument in favor of the proposed amendment : " Eman- 
cipation vitalizes only natural rights, not political rights. En- 
franchisement alone carries with it political rights, and these 
emancipated millions arc no more enfranchised now than when 
they were .-laves. They never had political power. Their mas- 
ters bad a fraction of power as masters. But there are no masters 
now. There are no slaves now. The whole relation-hip in which 
the power originated and existed i- gone. Hoc- this fraction ..f 
power -till survive? If it does, what shall become of it'.' Where 

i- it to go? 

,i We are told the blacks arc unlit to wield even a fraction of 
power, ami must not have it. That answers the whole question. 
11" the answer he true, it i- the end of controversy. There is no 
place, logically, for this power t<> l:". save t" the blacks; if they 
arc unlit to haw it, the power would aot exist. It is a power 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 329 

astray, without a rightful owner. It should be resumed by the 
whole nation at once. It should not exist; it dors not exist. 
This fractional power is extinct. 

"A moral earthquake has turned fractions into units, and units 
into ciphers. If a black man counts at all now, he counts five- 
fifths of a man, not three-fifths. Revolutions have no such frac- 
tions in their arithmetic; war and humanity join hands to blot 
them out. Four millions, therefore, and not three-fifths of four 
millions, are to be reckoned in here now, and all these four mill- 
ions are, and are to be, we are told, unfit for political existence. 

"Did the framers of the Constitution ever dream of this? 
Never, very clearly. Our fathers trusted to gradual and volun- 
tary emancipation, which would go hand in hand with education 
and enfranchisement. They never peered into the bloody epoch 
when four million fetters would be at once melted off in the fires 
of war. They never saw such a vision as we see. Four millions, 
each a Caspar Hauser, long shut up in darkness, and suddenly 
led out into the full flash of noon, and each, we are told, too 
blind to walk, politically. No one foresaw such an event, and so 
no provision was made for it. The three-fifths rule gave the 
slaveholding States, over and above all their just representation, 
eighteen Representatives beside, by the enumeration of 1860. 

" The new situation will enable those States, when relationships 
are resumed, to claim twenty-eight Representatives beside their 
just proportion. Twenty-eight votes to be cast here and in the 
Electoral College for those held not fit to sit as jurors, not fit to 
testify in court, not fit to be plaintiff in a suit, not fit to approach 
the ballot-box ! Twenty-eight votes to be more or less controlled 
by those who once betrayed the Government, and for those so 
destitute, we are assured, of intelligent instinct as not to be fit 
for free agency ! 

"Shall all this be? Shall four million beings count four mill- 
ions, in managing the affairs of the nation, who are pronounced 
by their fellow-beings unfit to participate in administering gov- 
ernment in the States where they live, or in their counties, towns, 
or precincts; who are pronounced unworthy of the leasl ami most 
paltry part in local political affairs? Shall one hundred and 
twenty-seven thousand white people in New York casl but one 
vote in this House, and have none but one voice here, while the 
same number of white people in Mississippi have three votes and 



10 THE THIRTT-.Vr.YTH CONGRESS. 

three voices? Shall the death of slavery add two-fifths to the 
entire power which slavery had when slavery was living? Shall 
one white man have as much share in the Government as three 
other white men merely because be lives where blacks outnumber 

whites two i te? Shall this inequality exist, and exist only 

in favor of those who without cause drenched the land with blood 
and covered it with mourning? Shall such be the reward of 
those who did the foulest and guiltiest act which crimsons the 
annals of recorded time? No, sir; not it' I can help it." 

Two oilier mode- of meeting the case had been considered by 
the committee, namely: First, To make the basis of representation 
in Congress and the Electoral College consist of sufficiently quali- 
fied voters alone; Second, To deprive the State- of the power to 
disqualify or discriminate politically on account of race or color. 

Alter presenting some reasons why the committee saw proper 
to recommend neither of these plans, Mr. Conkling further argued 
in favor of* the proposed amendment: "It contains but one con- 
dition, and that rests upon a principle already imbedded in the 
Constitution, and as old as tree government itself. That prin- 
ciple I affirmed in the beginning; namely, that representation 
does not belong to those who have not political existence, but to 
those who have. The object of the amendment is to enforce this 
truth. It therefore provides that whenever any State finds 
within its border- a race of beings unfit for political existent 
that race shall not be represented in the Federal Government. 
Every State will be left free to extend or withhold the elective 
franchise on such terms as it pleases, and this without losing 
any thing in representation if the terms are impartial as to all. 
Qualifications of voters may be required of any kind — qualifica- 
tions of intelligence, of property, or of any sort whatever, and 
yet no loss of representation shall thereby be suffered. But 
whenever in any Slate, and SO long as a race can be found which 
is 30 low, so bad, so ignorant, so stupid, that it is deemed neces- 
sary to exclude men from the righl to vote merely because they 
belong to that race, in that case the race shall likewise be ex- 
cluded from the SUm >'i' federal power to which the Slate is 

entitled, [fa race is so vile or worthless that to belong to it is 

alone cause of exclusion from political action, the race is not 

to be counted here in < longress." 

.Mr. Conkling maintained that the pending proposition com- 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 331 

mended itself for many reasons. " First. It provides for repre- 
sentation coextensive with taxation. I say it provides for this; 
it does not certainly secure it, but it enables every State to secure 
it. It does not, therefore, as the gentleman from New Jersey 
[Mr. Rogers] insists, violate the rule that representation should 
go with taxation. If a race in any State is kept unfit to vote, 
and fit only to drudge, the wealth created by its work ought to 
be taxed. Those who profit by such a system, or such a condition 
of things, ought to be taxed for it. Let them build churches and 
school-houses, and found newspapers, as New York and other 
States have done, and educate their people till they are fit to vote. 
' Fair play,' ' A fair day's wages for a fair day's work,' ( Live and 
let live' — these mottoes, if blazoned over the institutions of a 
State, will insure it against being cursed for any length of time 
with inhabitants so worthless that they are fit only for beasts of 
burden. I have said that the amendment provides for repre- 
sentation going hand in hand with taxation. That is its first 
feature. 

"Second. It brings into the basis both sexes and all ages, and 
so it counteracts and avoids, as far as possible, the casual and 
geographical inequalities of population. 

" Third. It puts every State on an equal footing in the require- 
ment prescribed. 

"Fourth. It leaves every State unfettered to enumerate all its 
people for representation or not, just as it pleases. 

Thus every State has the sole control, free from all interference, 
of its own interests and concerns. No other State, nor the Gene- 
ral Government, can molest the people of any State on the sub- 
ject, or even inquire into their acts or their reasons, but all the 
States have equal rights. If New York chooses to count her 
black population as political persons, she can do so. If she does 
not choose to do so, the matter is her own, and her rights can not 
be challenged. So of South Carolina. But South Carolina shall 
not say, 'True, we have less than three hundred thousand ''per- 
sons" in this State, politically speaking, yet we will have, in 
governing the country, the power of seven hundred thousand 
persons.' • 

"The amendment is common to all States and equal for all; 
its operation will, of course, be practically only in the South. No 
Northern State will lose by it, whether the Southern States 



THE THIR TT-J\ 7. V 77/ COJ\ '< i E ESS. 

extend suffrage to blacks or not. Even New York, in her 
great population, has so few blacks that she could exclude them 
all from enumeration and it would make no difference in her 
representation. It' the amendment is adopted, and suffrage re- 
mains confined as it is now, taking the census of I860 as the 
foundation of the calculation, and the number of Representatives 
as it then stood, the gains and Losses would be these: Wisconsin, 
Indiana, Qlinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, 
New Jersey, and Maine would gain one Representative each, and 
New York would gain three; Alabama, Kentucky. North Caro- 
lina, South Carolina, and Tennessee would each lose onej Georgia, 
Louisiana, and Virginia would each lose two, and Mississippi 
would lose three." 

On the following day, January 23d, the proposed joint resolu- 
tion came ii]) in the regular order of business. 

Mr. Jenckes, of Rhode Island, feared that a construction might 
be put upon the bill which would be fatal to its efficiency for the 
purposes had iii view by its friends. He said: "It say- nothing 
about the qualification of property. Suppose this amendment is 
adopted by three-fourths of the States, and becomes a part of the 
fundamental law of the land, and after its adoption the Stale ,.f 
Smith ( larolina should reinstate the constitution of 1790, striking 
out the word ' white' and reestablishing the property qualification 
of fifty acres of land, or town lots, or the payment of a tax. there 
would then he no discrimination of color in the State .if South 
Carolina, yet the number of electors would not be enlarged five 
hundred, and the basis of representation would be exactly as it 
is, with the addition <>f two-fifths of the enfranchised freedmen. 
A Representative to this House would be reelected by the same 
voting constituency as now, perhaps with the addition of five 
hundred black men in the State. If it bears this construction, 
ami I believe it does, 1 shall vote against it. 

"If any of the State- should establish property qualification 
I upon lands, then the same oligarchy would be enthroned 
on tic- whole basis of representation, entitled to a larger number 
of Representatives than now in this House, and elected by a 
slightly enlarged number of qualified electors, giving power more 
firmly to that very aristocracy we have sought to overthrow." 

A number of queries were propounded, several amendments 
proposed, and a considerable desire for discussion expressed, until 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. S33 

Mr. Stevens, much disappointed at the reception the measure met 
in the House, withdrew the demand for the previous question, and 
left the subject open for unlimited debate. 

Mr. Blaine, of Maine, addressed the House, detailing some ob- 
jections to the measure. He said: "While I shall vote for 
the proposition, I shall do so with some reluctance unless it is 
amended, and I do not regret, therefore, that the previous ques- 
tion was not sustained. I am egotistic enough to believe that the 
phraseology of the original resolution, as introduced by me, was 
better than that employed in the pending amendment. The 
phrase 'civil or political rights or privileges/ which I employed, 
is broader and more comprehensive than the term ' elective fran- 
chise,' for I fear, with the gentleman from Illinois, [Mr. Farns- 
worth,] that under the latter phrase the most vicious evasions 
might be practiced. As that gentleman has well said, they might 
make suffrage depend on ownership of fifty acres of land, and then 
prohibit any negro holding real estate ; but no such mockery as 
this could be perpetrated under the provisions of the amendment 
as I originally submitted it." 

In relation to taxation, Mr. Blaine remarked : " Now, I contend 
that ordinary fair play — and certainly we can afford fair play 
where it does not cost any thing — calls for this, namely, that if 
we exclude them from the basis of representation they should be 
excluded from the basis of taxation. Ever since this Government 
was founded, taxation and representation have always gone hand 
in hand. If we shall exclude the principle in this amendment, 
we will be accused of a narrow, illiberal, mean-spirited, and 
money-grasping policy. More than that, we do not gain any 
thing by it, What kind of taxation is distributed according to 
representation? Direct taxation. Now, we do not have any di- 
rect taxation. There has been but twenty millions of direct tax- 
ation levied for the last fifty years. That tax was levied in 1861, 
and was not collected, but distributed among the States and held 
in the Treasury Department as an offset to the war claims of the 
States; so that, as a matter of fact, we are putting an offensive 
discrimination in this proposition and gaining nothing by it ex- 
cept obloquy." 

Mr. Donnelly, of Minnesota, said : " It follows, as a logical con- 
clusion, that if men have no voice in the National Government, 
other men should not sit in this hall pretending to represent 



334 THE THIRTT-MXTH CONGRESS. 

them. And it is equally clear thai an oppr< — '1 nice should not 
lend power to their oppressors, to be used in their name and for 
their destruction. It is a mockery to say that a man's agent -hall 
be his enemy, and shall be appointed without his consent and 
againsl his desire, and by other enemies. 

•• In fact, I can not see how any Northern man can vote against 
this measure, unless he wishes to perpetuate an injustice to his 
section, because the effect of it will clearly be to increase the re- 
presentation of the Xorth and decrease that of the South; and 
this, too, npon a basis of undoubted justice. It mean- simply 
that those who do not take pari in the Government shall not be 
represented in the Government." 

Mr. Donnelly did not, however, regard the proposed amend- 
ment as "a grand panacea for all the ills that affect the nation." 
He would vote for the law, "not as a finality, but as a partial 
step as one of a series of necessary laws." Said he, "When we 
vote for this measure, it must be because we think it right and 
necessary, not that it may furnish us with an excuse for failing 
to do all other right and necessary thing- expected of us by the 
people. We must take direct, not sidelong measures. We must 
make laws not arguments. We must enforce, not induce. 

"To pass this law and then hope that South Carolina, moved 
by the hope of future power, would do justice to the negro, is ab- 
surd. She has 291,300 whites and 412,406 negroes. To pass 
such a law would be for the governing power to divest itself o\' 
the government and hand it over to a subject and despised caste, 
and that, too, for a faint hope of some future advantage that 
might never be realized under the most favorable circumstances, 
and certainly could never be realized by the aspiring class abdi- 
cating and relinquishing power. The same is true, more or less, 
of all the South. In Mississippi there are 353,901 whites and 
136,631 negroes; and in all the State- the negro vote would be 
large enough to turn the scale against the disloyal party." 

Mr. Sloan, of Wisconsin, thus presented the practical workings 
of the "Constitution as it is:" "Look at the practical operation 
of the question we are discussing to-day. In the State I repre- 
sent there arc eight hundred thousand five white people loyal to 
the Constitution, who have done their whole duty in sustaining 
their Government during t In- terrible war. The bones of our 
soldiers are moldering in the Boil of every rebel State. They 



BASIS OF REPRESE. AT./ TION. 335 

have stood around our flag in the deadly hail of every battle of 
the war. The State of Wisconsin has six Representatives on this 
floor. South Carolina ho,s three hundred thousand white in- 
habitants, disloyal, who have done all in their power to over- 
throw and destroy the Government, and yet, sir, under the Con- 
stitution as it now stands, the three hundred thousand disloyal 
white inhabitants of South Carolina will exercise as much polit- 
ical power in the Government as the eight hundred thousand 
loyal people of the State of Wisconsin." 

Mr. Sloan called attention to a proposition which he had sub- 
mitted to the preceding Congress, providing that the right of 
representation should be based upon the right of suffrage — upon 
the numbers allowed the right to vote in the respective States. 

In answer to a supposed objection to this plan, that "there 
might be some inequality in the representation of the respective 
States/' he said : " We all know that the young men of the old 
States go out in large numbers to settle in the new States and 
Territories, while the women and children do not emigrate to so 
great an extent, and hence there would be a larger number of 
voters in the new States in proportion to population than in the 
old. And yet this is a consideration which, in my judgment, 
ought not to weigh a hair with any member on this floor. It 
would be only a temporary inequality. In the rapidly increasing 
settlement and in the natural increase of population of our new 
States, that inequality would very soon be entirely swept away. 
I believe the difference to-day between Massachusetts and Wis- 
consin would be very slight, if any, so rapid has been the increase 
of our population and the settlement of our State. We are now 
proposing to adopt an amendment to the Constitution which we 
expect to stand for all time, and any temporary inequality which 
could continue but for a few years ought not to have any 
weight." 

Mr. Brooks, of New York, thought that Mr. Stevens would 
better " at the start have named what are States of this Union. 
The opinion of the honorable gentleman himself, that there 
are no States in this Union but those that are now represented 
upon this floor, I know full well; but he knows as well that the 
President of the United States recognizes thirty-six States of this 
Union, and that it is necessary to obtain the consent of three- 
fourths of those thirty-six States, which number it is not possible 



33G THE Tllliny-XLXTU CONGRESS. 

to obtain. He knows very well that if his amendment should be 
adopted by the Legislatures of States enough, in his judgment, to 
carry it, before it oould pass the tribunal of the Executive cham- 
ber it would be obliged to receive the assent of twenty-seven 
States in order to become an amendment to the Constitution." 

Mr. Brooks, in the course of his speech, presented a petition 
from certain ladies of Xrw York, asking an amendment of the 
Constitution, prohibiting the several States from disfranchising 
any of their citizens on the ground of sex. He then proposed 
to amend the joint resolution by inserting the words "or - 
alt<r the word "color," so that it would read, "Provided, That 
whenever the elective franchise shall be denied or abridged in 
any State on account of race or color or sex, all persons of such 
race or color or sex shall be excluded from the basis of repre- 
sentation." 

"Is the gentleman in favor of that amendment?" asked Mr. 
Stevens. 

"I am," replied Mr. Brooks, " if negroes are allowed to vote." 

"That does not answer my question," said Mr. Stevens. 

"I suggested that I would move it at a convenient tune," said 
Mr. Brooks. 

" Is the gentleman in favor of his own amendment ? " Mr. 
Stevens again asked. 

" I am in favor of my own color in preference to any other 
color, and I prefer the white women of my country to the negro," 
was the response of Mr. Brooks, which was followed by applause 
in the galleries. 

Mr. Orth, of Indiana, obtained the floor for the purpose of 
offering an amendment, which he prefaced with the following 
remarks: " My position is that the true principle of representa- 
tion in Congress is that voters alone should form the basis, and 
thai each voter should have equal political weight in our Govern- 
ment; that the voter in Massachusetts should have the same but 
BO greater power than the voter in Indiana; and that the voter 
in Indiana should have the same power, but no greater, than the 

voter in the State of South Carolina. The gentleman from 
Maine, however, states that the census tables will show that by 
the amendment whioh 1 desire to offer at this time you will cur- 
tail the representative power of the State of Massachusetts. And 
why? Because he has shown by his figures that although Mas- 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 337 

sachusetts has a male population of 529,244, her voting popula- 
tion is only 175,487, being a percentage of twenty-nine, while 
Indiana, with a white male population of 693,409, has a voting 
population of 280,655, being about forty per cent. Why is this 
difference? Is it because our voting population is so much greater 
in proportion than the voting population of Massachusetts".' Nor 
at all. The difference arises from the fact that the State of Mas- 
sachusetts has seen fit to exclude a portion of her citizens from 
the ballot-box. Indiana has done the same thing. Indiana lias 
excluded one class of citizens; Massachusetts has excluded an- 
other class. Indiana has seen fit, for reasons best known to her- 
self, to exclude the colored population from the right of suffrage ; 
Massachusetts, on the contrary, has seen fit to exclude from the 
ballot-box those of her citizens who can not read or write. While 
we in Indiana are governed by a prejudice of color, the people of 
Massachusetts, I might say, are governed by a prejudice as re- 
gards ignorance. But here is the difference : under the amend- 
ment that I propose, while Indiana excludes the black man from 
the right to participate in the decisions of the ballot-box, she does 
not ask that the black man shall be represented on this floor. 
On the contrary, while Massachusetts excludes black and white 
persons who can not read and write, she yet asks that that popu- 
lation excluded from the ballot shall have representation on this 
floor. I regard this as wrong in theory, wrong in principle, and 
injurious to the State which I have the honor to represent, giving 
to Massachusetts a power upon this floor of which my State is 
deprived. Why ? Because the exclusion which drives from the 
ballot-box in Massachusetts a large portion of her citizens, yet 
admits them to representative power on this floor." 

Mr. Orth's amendment proposed that Representatives should 
" be apportioned among the several States according to the num- 
ber of male citizens over twenty-one years of age, having the 
qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch 
of the State Legislature." There being objection to the recep- 
tion of this amendment under the rules of the House, it could 
not be considered. 

Mr. Chanler, of Xew York, alluding to Mr. Stevens' desire 

to have the joint resolution passed on the day of its introduction, 

before the sun went down, said : " Sir, this measure, if passed, 

will tend to obscure the sun from which the liberties of this 

22 



338 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

country derive their nourishment and Life, the brilliant orb, the 
Constitution, whose lighl has spread itself to the farthest ends 
of the earth. The vital principle of that Constitution, the soul 
of its being, is that balance of power between the States which 
insures individual liberty to every citizen of each State, and har- 
mony among all the States of the I nion. 

•• I affirm, sir, that the discussion of this subject in the Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1787 was conducted in a spirit worthy 
of a great people, and resulted in the noble instrument under 
whose authority we now live. That era furnishes us a sad com- 
parison with the present epoch, when it may well be said that 
our Rome has 'lost the breed of noble bloods,' and when, so 
far as the agitation of these fanatical and partisan questions is 
concerned, reason seems to have ' tied to brutish beasts.' How 
differently and with what wise moderation did the framers of the 
Constitution act ! No narrow and fanatical partisanship marks 
their opinions or their acts." 

After reading an extract from Onrtis' History of the Consti- 
tntion, Mr. Chanler, contrasting former legislation with the pres- 
ent on the subject of suffrage, said: "From the above historical 
statement, it will be found that the framers of the Constitution 
considered the question of suffrage of so vital importance in fix- 
ing the balance of power between the State-, that it was, after 
full discussion in Congress by the whole body, referred to a 
select committee of one from each State, again reported and fully 
discussed, and then referred to a committee of five, whose thor- 
ough examination of the subject gave rise to new difficulties, and 
caused the matter to be referred to another committee of on-' 
member from each Stat.'. All differences were compromised in 
a spirit of patriotism ami justice. How different is all this from 
the hasty partisan legislation on this very suffrage question by 
the present < longress ! 

•• A caucus met before Congress organized, and chalked out a 

line of policy and action for the Republican party on the floor 
of Congress. The whole matter of reconstruction was referred to 
a grinding committee, whose dictation should govern Congress 
in every measure broughl before it for consideration. Es this 
wise, just, or reasonable? 1 hold that this resolution is too nar- 
row to be of use and too weak to last. It will totter to an un- 
timely -rave, and hobble, a feeble and contemptible instrument, 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 339 

from this Congress to every State Legislature to which it may 
be submitted, to be rejected for its feebleness in a time like this, 
amid the overwhelming issues which agitate this country." 

Mr. Farnsworth, of Illinois, remarked: "It is necessary, it 
seems to me, that whatever constitutional provision we may make 
should be made clear, manifest, certain. If possible, we should 
make it enforce itself, so that by no cunningly-devised scheme 
or shift can they nullify it. It seems to me that the resolution 
reported by the joint Committee on Reconstruction is not so cical- 
as it ought to be ; I am afraid that it will be worthless. A State 
may enact that a man shall not exercise the elective franchise 
except he can read and write, making that law apply equally to 
the whites and blacks, and then may also enact that a black man 
shall not learn to read and write, exclude him from their schools, 
and make it a penal offense to instruct or to teaeli him, and thus 
prevent his qualifying to exercise the elective franchise according 
to the State law. And they may do in regard to the elective fran- 
chise just what they are doing now in regard to slavery. They 
may provide that no man shall exercise the elective franchise 
who has been guilty of a crime, and then they may denounce 
these men as guilty of a crime for every little, imaginary, petty 
offense. They may declare that no man shall exercise the right 
of voting who has not a regular business or occupation by which 
he mav obtain a livelihood, and then thev may declare that the 
black man 'has no settled occupation and no business. It seems 
to me, therefore, necessary that we should, by some provision in 
this amendment, settle this beyond a peradventure, so that none 
of these shifts or devices may defeat the purpose of the enact- 
ment." 

Mr. Farnsworth was in favor of more radical remedies : " I 
protest here that I will not accept any such constitutional amend- 
ment as this as a substitute for that full measure of justice which 
it is our duty to mete out. I will not promise that hereafter I will 
not propose, and vote for, and advocate with whatever power I 
possess, a measure which will give to all the people of the States 
that which is their due. By no vote of mine shall there be in- 
corporated in the Constitution a provision which shall, even by 
implication, declare that a State may disfranchise any portion of 
its citizens on account of race or color. We have no right to 
give our countenance to any such injustice. All provisions in 



I ' 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 



reference to representation which arc based upon any other prin- 
ciple than that of the people of this country, who are the subjects 
overnment, bave the righl to vote and t<> be represented, are 
false in principle. Such a measure may, perhaps, answer for a 
temporary expedient, but it will not do a- a fundamental rule to 
rabodied in the Constitution tor the people of this country to 
live by. I deny that a State has the right to disfranchise a 
majority or even a minority of it- citizens because of class or 
race. And I say that that provision of the Constitution which 
makes it the duty of the General Government to 'guarantee to 
every State in this Union a republican form of government ' 
ought to be taken into consideration by this Congress ami en- 
forced. Does a State that denies the elective franchise to one-half 
of its citizens possess a republican form of government '.' Where 
a large portion of the citizens of a State — the men who are re- 
quired to pay taxes ami perform military duty, to contribute 
their money and their strength in support of the Government — 
are denied the elective franchise, is that a republican form of gov- 
ernment? i say that it is a libel upon republicanism; it i- not 
a republican form of government ; it is neither republican in 
form nor in substance." 

Mr. Baker, of Illinois, although anxious to have an amend- 
ment of the Constitution "achieving the general purpose of sup- 
plying a more just basis of representation," saw points of objection 
to the proposition before the Souse, some of which had been raised 
by previous speakers, lie said: "1 am reluctant to indorse an 
amendment to the Constitution framed in this day of growing 
liberty, framed by the party of progress, intended to make rep- 
resentative power in this Government correspond with the quan- 
tum of political justice on which it is based, and yet which leaves 
any State in the Union perfectly free to narrow her suffrage to 
any extent she pleases, imposing proprietary and other disquali- 
fying tests, and -till strengthening her aristocratic power in the 
Government by the full count of her disfranchised people, pro- 
vided only she steers clear of a besl based on race or color," 

Mr. Jenckes was desirous of having a more just and eompre- 
hensive enactment than the one proposed: "In my judgment," 
said he, "justice requires that the qualification of electors for 
members of this House and for electors of President and Vice- 
President of the United States — in other words, for the two pop- 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. $41 

ular branches of this great Govern meat — should be defined in the 
fundamental law. Upon this point let me quote the words of 
Madison, written in his mature years to a distinguished son of 
the republic seeking advice from him. lie says: 'The right of 
suffrage, the rule of apportioning representation, and the mod*; 
of appointing to and removing from office, are fundamentals in 
a free government, and ought to be fixed by the Constitution.' 

"Certainly, sir, it is less difficult, in a Congress composed of 
less than three hundred men, to agree to a proposition which will 
meet the views of the whole country on this question of suffrage 
than to adopt a proposition which, when submitted to and adopted 
by the requisite number of States, must be carried into effect by 
as many Legislatures as there are States, and in a different man- 
ner by each, and which, in being carried into effect, must be acted 
upon by as many thousands of men in State conventions and Leg- 
islatures as there are hundreds in this Congress. 

"There is no equality, and there can be no equality, in the 
proposed amendment. It seems to me, therefore, if we under- 
take to amend the fundamental law at all in this respect, we 
ought to agree upon what should be the qualification of voters 
for members of this House, embodying them in the proposed 
amendments to submit to the Legislatures of the States. Then 
there would be a definite proposition; and that, I believe, if it 
emanated from this House, would have substantial equality and 
justice — would have the elements of equality and uniformity, 
and be enforced without difficulty in every State of the Union." 

Referring to a mode which might be adopted for evading the 
legitimate results of the proposed amendment, Mr. Jenckes re- 
marked: "I was alluding to another one. Some of the Southern 
States, up to the breaking out of the war, had constitutions which 
prescribed a property qualification. Suppose this amendment were 
adopted, and the State of South Carolina chose to annul the Con- 
stitution recently proclaimed and to go back to that of 1790, and 
that the word 'white' should be stricken out of it, I desire to 
ask how many freedmen, how many persons of African descent, 
can be found who own in fee fifty acres of land or a town lot. or 
who have paid a tax of three shillings sterling. As far as I can 
ascertain from the statistics, there would not be, if that constitu- 
tion were restored and the word 'white' omitted, over five hun- 
dred additional qualified voters in that State. 



THE 77////y'i'-.\7.\77/ COKGREh 

"Ever since the adoption of the Constitution of L790 down to 
the time of firing on Fort Sumter, South Carolina was in prac- 
tical relation to this Government as a Statu of this Union. She 
had been considered as having a republican form of government, 
and that which we had guaranteed as such for many years we 
would be Ik. and to guarantee to her hereafter. Stronger than 
ever this oligarchy would be enthroned upon their old seat of 
pow< r, not upheld merely by slaves beneath it, but by the power 
of the General Government above and around it. She might 
make any of the discriminations which 1 havi d, of 

. f residence, of previous servitude, and of ignorance or 
poverty." 

Mr. Trimble, of Kentucky, was "exceedingly gratified at the dis- 
position manifested among the party in opposition here, by reason 
of their own differences of opinion, to allow an opportunity to us 
to present our objections to the measure now under consideration. 
This subject of amending the Constitution under which we have 
lived so long, so happily, and so prosperously, is one of great 
moment; and while I have some confidence in the ability and 
capacity of some of the friends on the opposite side to mala' a 
constitution, yet I prefer the Constitution as made by our fathi 

! ty years ago. 

In my opinion, the amendment proposed is in violation of 
the reserved rights of the people of the States under that instru- 
ment. The object and purpose of this resolution is to enfran- 
chise a million men in this country whom no political party iu 
this country ever had the boldness to propose the enfranchisment 
of prior to the present -—ion of Congress. 1 remember that, in 
I860 and 1861, the party known in this country as the Union 
party took the -round, from one end of the country to the other, 
that neither Congress nor the people of the States had the power, 
under the Constitution of the United States, to interfere with 
very in the Stan- where it existed; much less, sir, (lid they 
claim the power nol only to destroy it, but to strike down the 
provisions of the Constitution that protected me and my constitu- 
ents in our right to our property. Sir, there was an amendment 
submitted then for the purpose of peace, for the purpose of restoring 
•r and quiet throughout the country. It met, at the time, my 
hearty support, and I regret, from the bottom of my heart, that the 
people, North, South, East, and West, did not agree to that prop- 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 3 J, 3 

osition, and make it part and parcel of the Constitution. I refer 
to the amendment proposed in 1861, declaring that Congress 
should never thereafter interfere with the question of slavery in 
the State-. 

"Sir, it is a well-established principle that no one should be 
permitted to take advantage of his own wrong. If the party in 
power have succeeded in freeing the slaves of the South, ought 
they not, at least, to allow the Southern States to enjoy the in- 
creased representation to which, according to the rule established 
by the Constitution, they are now entitled"? Or, if the Northern 
States sincerely desire that the negroes of the South shall vote 
and shall be represented in Congress, let them transport thOse 
negroes to the North and take them under their guardianship; 
they are welcome to them. 

"I believe that the people of Kentucky, whom I in part rep- 
resent, and I have no doubt the people of the whole South, will 
submit in good faith to the constitutional amendment abolishing 
slavery. While they may believe that the amendment is revolu- 
tionary and unjust, in violation of the rights of Kentucky and 
the South, still the Southern States, having in a way yielded up 
this question, for representation and peace, they will stand by the 
Constitution as amended." 

Finally, Mr. Trimble presented the following argument against 
the measure: "This proposition is a direct attack upon the Pres- 
ident of the United States; it is a direct attack upon the doc- 
trines and principles taught by that distinguished man now hold- 
ing the presidential chair. This amendment is in violation, in 
my judgment, of every principle that that man has held from his 
boyhood up to the present hour. Sir, the President of the United 
States does not believe that the Congress of the United States has 
the right, or that the people have the right, to strike down the 
inalienable right of the States to settle for themselves who shall 
be clothed with that high privilege — suffrage." 

The subject being resumed on the following day. .January 24th, 
Mr. Lawrence, of Ohio, addressed the House, premising his re- 
marks by a motion that the resolution and amendments be re- 
committed to the Committee on Reconstruction, "with instruc- 
tions to report an amendment to the Constitution which shall, 
first, apportion direct taxes among the State- according to prop- 
erty in each; and which shall, second, apportion Representatives 



344 TJ/I ' : Tiiiirrr-.Yi.YTii congress. 

among the States on the basis of adult male voters who may be 
citizens of the United States." 

lie argued that "the rule which gave representation to tin ■ 
fifths of the -lave population was wrong in principle, and unjust 
in practical results. It was purely arbitrary, the result of com- 
promise, and noi of fixed political principles, or of any standard 
of abstract justice. W slavery was a jusl element of political 
strength, L know of no rule which could properly divide it into 
'fractional quantities;' if it was not a just element of political 
strength, I know of no rule which could properly give it ' frac- 
tional jiower.' 

" The basis of representation was unjust in practical results, be- 
cause it gave to chattel slavery political power — a power accorded 
to no other species of property — thus making what the slave 
State- regarded as wealth an clement of political strength." 

After having given a statistical table showing how representa- 
tion was apportioned among the several States having free and 
.-lave population, Mr. Lawrence deduced the following facts: 
"New Hampshire, with a white population of 325,579, has but 
three Representatives, while Louisiana, with a white population 
of 357,629, had five. California, with a white population of 
323,177, has but three Representatives, while Mississippi, with a 
similar population of 353,901, had five. In South Carolina 
72,847 white persons had one Representative, while the ratio of 
representation is one for 127,000 persons. 

"Under this mode of apportionment, the late slave States had 
eighteen Representatives, by the census of L860, more than their 
jusl share, if based on free population. The whole political 
power of Ohio was counterbalanced by slave representation. It 
was equal to two-thirds of all the representation from New Eng- 
land. In South Carolina 1 1,569 votes carried as much political 
power as 25,400 in the free States." 

Freedom having been given to the -lave-, "the effect will be, 
so soon as lawful State Governments are created in the rebel 
State-, to largely increase their representation in Congress and the 
Electoral College. The -lave population, by the census of 1*60, 
was 3,950,531. Three-fifths of this, or 2,370,318, has heretofore 
entered into the basis of representation. Now. the additional 
1,580,213 is to be added to that basis. This will give ten addi- 
tional Representatives to the late -lave State: — in all twenty-eight 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 345 

more than their just proportion upon a basis excluding the late 
slaves. If this injustice can be tolerated and perpetuated, and 
the late rebel States shall soon be admitted to representation, 
they will enjoy as the reward of their perfidy and treason an in- 
creased political power. This will reward traitors with a liberal 
premium for treason." 

As to the proper time for amending the Constitution, .Mr. 
Lawrence said: "But if ever there could be a time for making 
fundamental changes in our organic law, and ingrafting on it irre- 
versible guarantees, that time is now. The events of the past 
four years demonstrate their necessity, and our security for the 
future imperatively demands them at our hands. The great 
events which have transpired, and the altered circumstances thai 
surround us, admonish us that we will be recreant to our trusts if 
we fail to inscribe justice on the Constitution, and fortify it against 
the encroachments of treason, so that it shall be eternal. One of 
the elements of our past misfortunes, and which gave power for 
evil to the enemies who assailed us in this temple, was unequal 
and unjust representation — political power wielded by a dominant 
class, augmented by concessions on behalf of a disfranchised and 
servile race, insultingly declared almost in the very citadel of na- 
tional justice as having no rights which a white man was bound 
to respect. By this amendment we strike down the iniquity of 
one class wielding political power for another, and arrogant be- 
cause in the exercise of unjust power." 

Maintaining that representation should be based upon suffrage, 
Mr. Lawrence said: "The reason which conclusively justifies it is, 
that a people declared by law, if in fact unprepared for suffrage, 
should not be represented as an element of power by those inter- 
ested in forever keeping them unprepared. But children never 
can be qualified and competent depositaries of political power, and, 
therefore, should not enter into the basis of representation. It 
never has been deemed necessary for the protection of females that 
they should be regarded as an element of political power, and 
hence they should not be an element of representation. If the 
necessity shall come, or if our sense of justice should so change 
as to enfranchise adult females, it will be time enough then to 
make them a basis of representation." 

Mr. Shellabarger, of Ohio, though having "fifteen times as 
much respect for the opinions of the Committee on Reconstruc- 



.6 THE THIRTY-MXTlf CONGRESS. 

tiun" as for his own, yet suggested the following as objections to 
their report : 

"1. It contemplates and provides for,and in that way, taken by 
itself, authorizes the States to wholly disfranchise entire races of 
it- people, and that, too, whether that race be white or black, 
Saxon, Celtic, or Caucasian, and without regard to their numb 
or proportion to the entire population of the State. 

"2. It is a declaration made in the Constitution of the only 
great and free republic in the world, that it is permissible and 
right to deny to the races of men all their political rights, ami 
that it i.- permissible to make them the hewer.- of wood and draw- 
ers of water, the mud-sills of society, provided only you do not ask 
to have these disfranchised rare-, represented in that Government, 
provided you wholly ignore them in the State. The moral teach- 
ing of the clause offends the live and just spirit of the age, vio- 
lates the foundation principles of our own Government, and is 
intrinsically wrong. 

••:;. The elan-c, by being inserted into the Constitution, and 
being made the companion of its other clauses, thereby construes 
and gives new meanings to those other clauses; and it thus !■ 
down and spoils the free spirit and sense of the Constitution. 
Associated with that clause relating to the Stan- being 'republi- 
can/ it makes it read thus: "The United State- .-hall guarantee 
to every State in this Union a republican form of government;' 
provided, however, that a government shall be deemed to be !<■- 
publican when whole races of its people are wholly disfranchised, 
unrepresented, and ignored. 

•• 1. The report of the committee imposes no adequate restraint 
upon this disfranchisement of races and creation of oligarchies in 
the State-, because after a race i- disfranchised in a State it gives 
to one vote cast in such State by the riding race jn.-t the same 
power a- a vote has in a State where no one i- disfranchised. 

i. These words of the amendment, to-wit, ' denied or abridged 
on account of elm-,' admit of dangerous construction, and also of 
an evasion of the avowed intent of the committee. Tim-, for 
example, the African race may, in fact, be disfranchised in the 
Stan-, and yet enumerated a- part of the basis of representation, 
by mean- of a provision disfranchising all who were slaves, or all 
whose ancestors were slaves. 

'•('». The pending proposition of the committee is a radical de- 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 347 

parture from the principles of representative republican govern- 
ment, in this, that it does not provide for nor secure the absolute 
political equality of the people, or, relatively, of the States. It 
does not secure to each vote throughout the Government absolute 
equality in its governing force. It, for example, permits twenty- 
live thousand votes in New York city to elect two members of 
Congress, provided one-half of its population should happen to 
be foreigners unnaturalized, and not electors of the State, whom 
the law deems unfit to vote; whereas, twenty-five thousand votes 
in Ohio would elect but one member of Congress, provided her 
citizens were all Americans instead of foreigners." 

Mr. Eliot submitted an amendment to the effect that popula- 
tion should be the basis of representation, and that " the elective 
franchise shall not be denied or abridged in any State on account 
of race or color." He stated the following grounds of objection 
to the resolution offered by the committee: " First, the amend- 
ment as it is now reported from the committee is objectionable, 
to my mind, because it admits by implication that a State has 
the right to disfranchise large masses of its citizens. No man 
can show that in that Constitution which the fathers made, and 
under which we have lived, the right is recognized in any State 
to disfranchise large masses of its citizens because of race. And 
I do not want now, at this day, that the Congress of the United 
States, for the purpose of effecting a practical good, shall put 
into the Constitution of the land any language which would seem 
to recognize that right. 

" The next objection I have to the amendment is this : that it 
enables a State, consistently with its provisions, by making the 
righf to vote depend upon a property qualification, to exclude 
large classes of men of both races. A State may legislate in such 
a way as to be, in fact, an oligarchy, and not a republican State. 
South Carolina may legislate so as to provide that no man shall 
have the right to vote unless he possesses an annual income of 
$1,000, and holds real estate to the amount of five hundred acres. 
Every one sees that that would exclude multitudes of all classes 
of citizens, making the State no longer republican, but oligarchical. 
Yet gentlemen say that under the Constitution Congress is bound to 
see to it that each State shall have a republican form of government. 

"The third objection I have to this amendment is, that it 
controls by implication that power; because, while the Constitu- 



84& THE THIRTY-NINTR CONGRESS 

tion ik.w says thai Congress shall guarantee to everj State a 
republican form of government, this amendment, as reported by 
the committee, admit- by implication that, although a State may 
so legislate as to exclude these multitudes of men, not on account 
of race or color, bul on account of property, yet, nevertheless, she 
would have a republican form of government, and that Congress 
will not and ought not to interfere." 

Mr. Pike, of Maine, had, on the assembling of Congress after 
the holidays, offered a resolution expressing the idea contained in 
the report of the committee, but on reflection had come to the 
.■oncliisii.il that the resolution would not accomplish the purp 
desired. He stated his reasons for changing his opinion. He 
thought that the provisions of the proposed amendment might 
be evaded. "Suppose/' said he, "this constitutional amendment 
in fill) force, and a Stat.' should provide that the right of suffrage 
should not he exercised by any person who had been a. slav< . 
or who was the descendant of a slave, whatever his race or color. 
I submit that it is a serious matter of doubt whether or not that 
simple provision would not he sufficient to defeat this constitu- 
tional amendment which we here so laboriously enact and submit 
to the Slates." 

Mr. Conkling thought that this criticism could have no prac- 
tical importance, from the feet that the proposed amendment was 
to operate in this country, where one race, and only one, has been 
held in servitude. 

Mr. Pike replied: "In no State in the South has slavery been 
confined to any one race. So far as I am acquainted with their 
statute-, iii no State has slavery been confined to the African race, 

I know of no slave statute, and I have examined the matter with 
-Mine care, which -ay- that African- alone -hall be -lav.-. So 

much for race. As to color, it was a < imon thing throughout 

the whole South t<» advertise runaway slaves a- having light hair 
and blue eyes, and all the indications of the Caucasian race, and 
'passing themselves oil' for white men.' 1 say further to the 
honorable gentleman from New York, that well-authenticated 
instances exist in every slave State where men of Caucasian de- 

Bcent, of A.nglo-Saxon 1»1 1, have been confined in slavery, and 

they and their posterity held as slaves; so that not only five 
1. lacks were found even-where, but white -laves al-o abounded." 

Mr. Kdlev, who next addressed the House, also brought proof 



BASIS OF REPUKSIWTATION. 349 

to controvert the "hasty assertion" that but one rare had been 
enslaved: "The assertion that white persons have been sold into 
slavery does not depend on common report, but is proven by the 
reports of the superior courts of almost every Southern State. 
One poor German woman, who had arrived in our country at 
thirteen years of age, was released from slavery by the Supreme 
Court of Louisiana, but not until she had become the mother of 
three mulatto children, her owner having mated her with one of 
his darker slaves. Toward the close of the last century, the Su- 
preme Court of New Jersey decided that American Indians could 
be reduced to and legally held in slavery. And so long ago as 
1741 white slave women were so common in North Carolina, that 
the Legislature passed a law dooming to slavery the child of every 
' white servant woman ' born of an Indian father." 

Mr. Kelley thought that the enforcement of this long-dormant 
power of the Constitution would be for the benefit not merely of 
the poor, the ignorant, and the weak, but also of the wise, " the 
strong, and the wealthy of our country." "There is now pend- 
ing," said he, " before the Legislature of regenerated and, as 
gentlemen would have us believe, reconstructed Virginia, a bill 
to require five years' residence on the part of citizens of other 
States who may invest their capital and settle within the sacred 
limits of the Old Dominion before they can acquire citizenship. 
If they may pass a limitation of five years, why may they not 
pass a limitation of fifty? Why will not any limitation that 
comes within the ordinary duration of human life be admissible?" 

Mr. Bromwell, obtaining the floor, inquired whether the ques- 
tion was in such condition that any amendment or substitute 
could be offered. The Speaker replied: "Six amendments are 
pending now. The only one that could be offered would be to 
amend the amendment of the gentleman from Pennsylvania, 
[Mr. Stevens,] which was, to add the word ' therein ' in the fif- 
teenth line. No other amendment would be in order now, the 
whole legislative power to amend being exhausted." 

Mr. Bromwell had desired to offer an amendment which, in his 
opinion, would obviate many of the objections to pending joint 
resolution, and the amendments thereto; but the way not being 
open for this, he addressed the House in a brief speech. He said : 
"When this amendment was introduced, on last Monday morn- 
ing, the differences of opinion which have been developed in 



350 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 

n ference to the principles of the amendment were not anticipated. 
Bui to-day we see that it has, so tin-, nol an advocate upon this 
floor. Such may be the result with every amendment which 
may be presented. It is difficult to see, among all the amend- 
ments which arc now pending, any <>w- of them, or any combina- 
tion of them, that will meet the desire of the majority, n<>t fco say 
two-thirds of this House. 1 apprehend that the members of this 
House desire to act so as to secure the support of a proper major- 
ity here. 1 apprehend, also, that they desire to make this amend- 
ment such that it will meet with the sanction of a sufficient 
number of the States of the Union to make it effectual Now. 
sir, it is in vain Cor this Congress to launch an amendment which 
shall the on the road through the Legislatures." 

"Notwithstanding the difficulties in the way of all the plans 
proposed, Mr. Bromwell was heartily in favor of modifying the 
basis of representation. "I think." said he, "seventy years is 
long enough for fifteen, twenty, or thirty Representative- to -it 
here and make laws to apply to Northern people, with no con- 
stituencies behind them. I think it ha- been seen long enough 
that a large number of persons called property, made property by 
the law- of the States, shall give to the oligarchs of those particu- 
lar districts of country the right to outvote the independent men 
of the North, of the free States, where some approximation has 
been made to securing God-given rights to all inhabitants. I 
think that it is wrong that the further a State recedes from com- 
mon right ami common justice the more power the oligarchy 
which controls it shall grasp in their hands; and I desire that 
this amendment -hall be made so that it shall bear down upon 
that abuse with the crushing power of three-fourth- of the legis- 
latures of the 1 'nion." 

After the House had heard so many objectors to the basis 
of representation, as proposed by the committee, Mi - . Cook, of 
Illinois, took the floor in favor of the measure. He said: 
" We have now, as I believe, the golden opportunity to remedy 
this evil which will never come again to the men of this genera- 
tion. The system of slavery has fallen. The Stat.- whose repre- 
sentation was increased by it have, with two or three exceptions, 

de-troyed their loyal and legal State governments, and now seek 
reconstruction. The adoption of this amendment by the States 
lately in rebellion should be one of the guarantees to be insisted 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 351 

upon as a condition precedent to their taking equal authority and 
rank in the Union with the loyal States." 

To the proposition that the basis of representation should be 
voters only, Mr. Cook presented the following objections : 

"1. It is difficult to enumerate voters accurately; their qualifi- 
cations are fixed by State laws. We can not send Federal officers 
into every State to adjudicate, in disputed cases, the rights of 
those claiming to be voters under the State laws, as we should 
have to do. 

" 2. It would not be just ; the voters of the country are un- 
equally distributed. The old States have fewer, the new States 
more, voters according to the white population. In other words, 
there is a greater proportion of women and children in the old 
States. These should be and are represented. They are repre- 
sented, in the true sense of that word, by their fathers and broth- 
ers. The man who represents them does so really and practically, 
and not by legal fiction, like the man who represents ' three-fifths 
of all other persons.' 

" 3. It takes from the basis of representation all unnaturalized 
foreigners. I do not wish to discuss the question whether this 
would be judicious or not, but I do not want a measure of this 
almost supreme importance loaded down with these questions, and 
its passage jeopardized by the incorporation of provisions which 
would render it so liable to attack and misrepresentation." 

Mr. Cook referred as follows to some objections urged against 
the basis of representation proposed by the Reconstruction Com- 
mittee : " It is said that the Southern States may impose a prop- 
erty qualification, and so exclude the negroes, not on account of 
race or color, but for want of a property qualification, or that 
they might provide for a qualification of intelligence, and so dis- 
franchise the negroes because they could not read or write, and 
still enumerate them. To do this they must first repeal all the 
laws now denying suffrage to negroes; and, second, provide quali- 
fications which will disfranchise half their white voters; two 
things neither of which will, in any human probability, occur. 
And in the event that it was possible that both these measur< 
should be adopted, and all the blacks and half the whites dis- 
qualified, it would become a grave question whether the provision 
of the Constitution which requires the United States to guaranty • 
to each State a republican form of government would not author- 



352 nn: Til urrv-xi.YTH CONGRESS. 

i/f tl G eminent to rectify so wrong. There is no 

measure to which fanciful objections may not be urged; but T be- 
lieve this to be th<' leasl objectionable of any measure which has 
been suggested to tneel this evil. But above all, I am well per- 
suaded thai it is the only measure that can meet the approval of 
three-fourths of the State-: consequently, that this is the only 
practical measure before the House." 

Mr. Marshall, of Illinois, declared the proposition, as reported 
by the committee, to be "wholly untenable, is monstrous, absurd, 
damnable in its provisions, a greater wrong and outrage on the 
black race than any thing that has ever been advocated by 
others." 

He thus set forth the measure in the light of injustice to the 
negro: "The gentlemen who report it profess to be, and doubt- 
less are, the peculiar advocates of the African race. I wish to 
ask them upon what principle of justice, upon what principle of 
free government, they have provided that if. after this amend- 
ment is adopted, South Carolina, Mississippi, or any other State 
shall adopt a provision that all white men over twenty-one years 
of age shall be voters, and all black men who have two hundred 
dollars' worth of property, and if there shall be ten thousand legal 
black voters in such State, upon what principle will you place in 
the Constitution of the United States a provision which would 
deprive these ten thousand legal black voters of any representa- 
tion upon the floor of Congress, or of being considered in the 
basis of representation? And I wish to ask the honorable gen- 
tleman who reported this amendment if that is not the effect and 
result of the amendment reported from the committee." 

In reference to the time and place of inaugurating constitu- 
tional amendments, Mr. Marshall used the following language: 
"If any amendments are necessary to the Constitution of our 
country, this is not the time, ami more especially is this not the 
place, to inaugurate such amendments. 1 believe, notwithstand- 
ing the conceded wisdom, ability, and virtue of this Souse, that 
the lathers who framed our glorious Constitution were wiser, bet- 
ter, and nobler than we are: yet every day we have offered here 
some dozen or twenty proposed amendments to the Constitution, 
offered as if we were discussing resolutions in a town meeting." 

Among the propositions before the House relating to this sub- 
ject, was an amendment proposed by Mr. Schenck, of Ohio, pro- 



JBdSIS OF REPRESENTATION. 353 

viding that representation should bo based upon "the number of 
male citizens of the United States over twenty-one years of age, 
having the qualifications requisite for electors of the most nume- 
rous branch of the State legislature." 

Mr. Schenck addressed the House, and thus gave a history of 
his own connection with the measure : " At a very early day in 
this session, I was one of those disposed to ask the attention of 
Congress to the subject, to propose in proper form the submission 
of the question to the Legislatures of the several States. On the 
first day of the session, on the 4th of December last, as soon as 
the House was organized, I gave notice that I would on the next, 
or some succeeding day, introduce a proposition to amend the 
Constitution. On the ensuing day I did accordingly present a 
joint resolution. It stands as House Resolution No. 1 of the ses- 
sion. 

" In that I propose representation hereafter shall be based upon 
suffrage. I propose that representation shall be apportioned among 
the several States of the Union according to the number of voters 
having qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous 
branch of the Legislature of the State where they reside, follow- 
ing in this the language of the Constitution ; these voters, how- 
ever, to be further limited in their descriptions and definitions as 
being male citizens of the United States over twenty-one years of 
age. Now, whether the proposition be a good one or not ; whether 
the limitation be such as should commend itself to the masses of 
our people, I will not for the present inquire. I will only remark 
they have seemed to me to embrace as many qualifications as we 
ought to include when we are going to lay down a new organic 
law on this subject." 

An objection urged by Mr. Schenck against the plan proposed 
by the committee was, that it failed to offer inducements for a 
gradual enfranchisement of the negro. He said: "Now, sir, I 
am not one of those who entertain Utopian ideas in relation, not 
merely to the progress, but to the immediate change of sentiment, 
opinions, and practice among the people of those States that have 
so lately been slave States, and so recently in rebellion. I believe 
that, like all other people, their growth toward good and right and 
free institutions must necessarily be gradual; and if we pa-vs the 
amendment which I have proposed, or any thing similar to it, 
and say to them, 'You shall have representation proportioned to 
23 



-,Jf. THE THIRTY-XT XTII CONGRESS. 

the portion of your population to which you extend this inesti- 
mable franchise,' my belief is thai they will not, on the next day 
after it becomes a part of the organic law <>t' the United States, 
al once enfranchise all the oegroes in their midst. I am nol sun' 
that they oughl to do it ; l»ut we are dealing with the matter now 
as it presents itself as a practical question. What will they ( »r< »1 >- 
ably do? My belief is, that if you persuade them to do right, 
if you hold out to them an inducement for letting their negroes 
vote, and striking out these disqualifications and putting all upon 
the basis of manhood, they will probably begin, after the amend- 
menl becomes part of the organic law, by extending this right to 
those who have acquired certain property ; perhaps they will also 
extend it, after awhile, to those who have certain qualifications of 
education. However they may proceed, whether rapidly or slowly, 
it will be a work of progress and a work of time. But by this 
amendment you would say to them. ' We do oot want you to enter 
upon any such gradual bringing up of these people to the level 
plain of right to be enjoyed by them equally with others of other 
- in your midst.' We say to them, 'You may enfranchise 
one-third or one-fourth of your people who are black and de- 
prived of the privilege of voting by introducing the qualification 
of property, up to which one-third or one-fourth may come; you 
may introduce a qualification of education, up to which a number 
of them may come; but that will all he of no value; so long as 
there is any denial or any abridgement of the right to vote of a 
single man on account of his race or color, you shall have no 
part of the population of that race or color counted to measure 
to you your -hare of representation.' 

"Now, I will not go into the abstract question whether they 
ought to enfranchise the negroes at once or not; I will nol go 
into the question of how soon they ought to do it as a matter of 
expediency; 1 say that, in all human probability, when they come 
to enfranchise, if they do it at all, this portion of their popula- 
tion, they will do it gradually; vet. by this amendment, a- it 
comes from the committee, you say that they -hall not be repre- 
sented for any part of it at all till they completely enfranchise 
them and put them on the same footing with the white popula- 
tion." 

In conclusion, Mr. Schenok remarked: "New England, it" she 
should even lose a vote, or two votes, or a fraction of a vote, can 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 

not afford, any more than Ohio or Indiana, or any other of those 
States can, having these particular objections to the scheme, to let 
the opportunity go by now and not introduce a general amend- 
ment which Avill remedy the one great evil under which we are 
all laboring together. I hold that Ohio must give up her objec- 
tions on account of her negro population; that the North-western 
States must give up their objections on account of the fact that 
they are permitting persons to vote who are not yet citizens of 
the United States. Those persons would have to wait, 'to tarrv 
at Jericho until their beards are grown.' I hold that New Eng- 
land must give up her objections; and, if we are to amend the 
organic law at all, we must do it by uniting upon a common 
principle, a common sympathy, a common feeling, at least on this 
side of the House, upon which the entire responsibility is thrown, 
acting harmoniously, and adopting such an amendment to the 
organic law as shall be entirely democratic and fair in all its 
scope and action upon all the people of the States of this Union." 

The discussion was continued on the dav following, Mr. El- 
dridge, of Wisconsin, having the floor for the first speech; After 
having expressed his satisfaction that the sun was allowed to go 
down on the deliberations upon this resolution, he confessed him- 
self opposed to the amendment of the Constitution. He said : " I 
believe that this is not the time for its amendment, and I believe, 
further, that there are other States than those represented upon 
this floor which are entitled to deliberate with us on that ques- 
tion, and to that point I shall mainly address the remarks which 
I have to make at this time." 

He made a protracted speech on the general subject of recon- 
struction. At the close of his remarks, he said : " It would 
much more comport with the dignity and sense of justice of the 
American Congress to let the legally elected members from the 
Southern States be admitted, and participate in the proceedings 
and debates, especially in matters of so great importance as a 
change in our organic law. Let us have a representation for our 
whole country. Wherever the American flag floats, from the St. 
Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico — wherever the Star-spangled 
Banner waves — that is our country. And let us legislate as 
Americans, as Representatives of our whole country, in a spirit 
of justice, liberality, and patriotism, and we will again have one 
country." 



3o THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGBE& 

Mr. Higby, of California, was opposed to the joint resolution, 
the fact that the proviso in the proposed amendmenl is in 
conflict with thai portion of the Constitution which requires that 
"the United S shall guarantee to every State in this Onion 

a republican form of government." '"I Bay it." said he, " with- 
out fear or favor, that thai amendmenl will allow any £ 
governmenl in it- organization to exclude one-half of its popu- 
lation from the right of suffrage; and I say Buch State govern- 
ments will not be republican in form." 

In a conversation which ensued with some members, Mr. Higby 
maintained that no State excluding any class of citizens on account 
of race or color was republican in form. "I do not believe," said 
he, " there is a single State in the Union, except it may be one 
of the New England States, which is an exception to that gen- 
eral rule." 

Mr. Hill, of Indiana, asked whether the gentleman would 
favor the House with his opinion as to what would be a repub- 
lican form of government. 

Mr. Higby was sorry that the gentleman had lived to his time 
of life, and obtained a position as the Representative of a large 
constituency, without finding out what a republican form of 
government is. "I will ask the gentleman," -aid he, "if he 
think sthat those States that have excluded and disfranchised 
more than half of their native population have a republican form 
of government*.'"' 

"In my opinion," said Mr. Hill, '-when the framers of the 
Constitution placed in that instrument the declaration or the pro- 
vision that the Government of the United States would guarantee 
to i tch State a republican form of government, they spoke with 
ence to such governments as then existed, and such as those 
same framers recognized for a long time afterward as republican 
government-." 

" Well, that is a very good answer," said Mr. Higby. " It Ls 
an answer from a stand-point seventy-five year- ago. I speak 

from the stand-point of the present time." 

Mr. Higby desired that the joint resolution should go back to 
the committee. He said: " I do nol wish it disposed of here, to 
be voted down. I want, if it is possible, that it shall bo so framed 
that it shall receive the full constitutional majority required, and 
be a proposition that shall operate with full force in all those 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 357 

States that now have a great population excluded from the rights 
of citizenship." 

"If the gentleman proposes," said Mr. Stevens, "to send it 
back to the committee without instructions, I would ask him what 
we arc to do. There are not quite a.s many views upon this floor 
as there are members; but the number lacks very little of it. 
And how are we to gather up all those views spread through all 
this discussion, and accommodate all, when each view would now 
probably receive from one to three votes in its favor?" 

" I have only this to say," replied Mr. Higby : " with my views 
of the Constitution, I never can vote for this proposition with this 
proviso in its present language. I say that it gives a power to the 
States to make governments that are not republican in form.'' 

" I say to my friend," said Mr. Stevens, " that if I thought, that 
by any fair construction of language, such an interpretation could 
be given as he gives, I would vote against it myself; but I do 
not believe there is any thing in that objection." 

Mr. Bingham took the floor in favor of the proposed joint resolu- 
tion. In " giving this and other amendments to the Constitution 
my support," said he, " I do not subject myself to the gratuitous 
imputation of a want of reverence either for the Constitution or its 
illustrious founders. I beg leave, at all events, to say, with all 
possible respect for that gentleman, that I do not recognize the 
right of any man upon this floor, who was a representative of that 
party which denied the right to defend the Constitution of his 
country by arms against armed rebellion, to become my accuser. 

" In seeking to amend, not to mar, the Constitution of the 
United States, we ought to have regard to every express or implied 
limitation upon our power imposed by that great instrument. 
When gentlemen object to amending the Constitution, when they 
talk sueeringly about tinkering with the Constitution, they do not 
remember that it is one of the express provisions of that instru- 
ment that Congress shall have power to propose amendments to the 
Legislatures of the several States. Do gentlemen mean, by the 
logic to which we have listened for the past five days on this sub- 
ject of our right to amend, that we arc not to add any thing to 
the Constitution, and that we are to take nothing from it? I pre- 
fer to follow, in this supreme hour of the nation's trial, the lead 
of a wiser and nobler spirit, who, by common consent, was called, 
while he lived, ' the Father of his ( 'otintry,' and, now that he is 



358 TEE TIIIL'T) -.\ 7. \ 77/ CONGRESS. 

dead, i< -till reverenced as ' the Father of his Country/ and to be 
hailed, I trust, by the millions <>(' tin- future who are to people 
this land of our- a- • the Father of his < !ountry.' In his Farewell 
Address, his last official utterance, Washington used th iiii- 

cant words, which I repeal to-day for the consideration of gentle- 
men: "The basis of our political systems is the right of the people 
to make and to alter their constitutions of government.' We pro- 

- . sir, simply to act in accordance with this suggestion of 
Washington. We propose, in presenting these amendments, to 
alter, in so fir as the changed condition of the country requires, 
the fundamental law, in order to seeure the safety of the republic 
and furnish better guarantees in the future for the rights of i 
and all. 

"The question that underlies this controversy is this: whether 
.vill stand by the Constitution in it- original intent and spirit, 
or, like cravens, abandon it. I assert it here to-day, without fear 
of contradiction, that the amendment pending before this House 
i- an amendment conforming exactly to the spirit of the Constitu- 
tion, and according to the declared intent of it- rramers. 

"My friend from California [Mr. Higby] has informed us that 
there are one hundred thousand more free colored citizens of the 
United States in the State of Mississippi to-day than there are 
of white citizens : that there are one hundred thousand more free 
•red citizens of the United States in South Carolina than then 1 
are of white citizen- ; and then we are gravely told that we must 
not press this amendment, because we are abandoning the ( \m-ti- 
tution and the intent of our fathers. That i< a new discovery, 
one for which the Democracy ought to take out letters patent, 
that it was ever intended that a minority of free citizens should 
disfranchise the majority of tree male citizens of full age, in any 
State of the Union! For myself, I will never consent to it." 

In answer to the objection that the proviso in the proposed 
amendment seemed to acknowledge the righl to deny or abridge 
the elective franchise on account of race or color, Mr. Bingham 
said : " I beg the gentleman to consider that a -rant of power by 
: nplication can not ] H - raised by a law which only imposes a 
penalty, and nothing but a penalty, for a non-performance of a 
duty or the violation of a right. Within the last hundred years, 
in no country where the common law ol>tain.-, I venture to say, 
any implication of a grant of power ever been held t-> be 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 350 

raised by such a law, and especially an implied power, to do an 
act expressly prohibited by the same law. The guarantee of 
your Constitution, that the people shall elect their Representa- 
tives in the several Stales, can not be set aside or impaired by 
inserting in your Constitution, as a penalty for disregarding it, 
the provision that the majority of a State that denies the equal 
rights of the minority shall suffer a loss of political power. 

"I have endeavored to show that the words of the Constitu- 
tion, the people of 'the States shall choose their Representa- 
tives/ is an express guarantee that a majority of the free male 
citizens of the United States in every State of this Union, being 
of full age, shall have the political power subject to the equal 
right of suffrage in the minority of free male citizens of full age. 
There is a further guarantee in the Constitution of a republican 
form of government to every State, which I take to mean that 
the majority of the free male citizens in every State shall have 
the political power. I submit to my friend that this proviso is 
nothing but a penalty for a violation on the part of the people 
of any State of the political right or franchise guaranteed by the 
Constitution to their free male fellow-citizens of full age. 

"The guarantee in the first article of the second section of the 
Constitution, rightly interpreted, is, as I claim, this: that the 
majority of the male citizens of the United States, of full age, in 
each State, shall forever exercise the political power of the State 
with this limitation: that they shall never by caste legislation im- 
pose disabilities upon one class of free male citizens to the denial 
or abridgement of equal rights. The further provision is, that 
the United States shall guarantee to each State a republiean 
form of government, which means that the majority of male cit- 
izens, of full age, in each State, shall govern, not, however, in 
violation of the Constitution of the United States or of the rights 
of the minority." 

In closing his address, Mr. Bingham said: "I pray gentlemen 
to consider long before they reject this proviso. It may not be 
the best that the wisest head in this House can conceive of, but 1 
ask gentlemen to consider that the rule of statesmanship is to 
take the best attainable essential good which is at our command. 
The reason why I support the proposed amendment is, thai I 
believe it essential and attainable. I do not dare to say that it 
could not be improved. I do dare to say that it is in aid of the 



3G0 THE TllIRTY-.XIXTll CONGRESS. 

existing grants and guarantees of tl ' nstitution of my country, 
that it is simply a penalty to be inflicted upon the States for 
a specific disregard in the future of those wise and just and 
humane -rant- ' to the people' to elect their Representatives 
and maintain a republican government in each State. 

•• Mr. Speaker, the republic is great ; it i- -Teat in its domain, 
equal in extent t<> continental Europe, abounding in productions 
oC every /.one, broad enough ami fertile enough to fiirnish bread 
and homes to three hundred million freemen. The republic is 
great in the intelligence, thrift, industry, energy, virtue, and valor 
of it.s unconquered and unconquerable children, and great in its 
matchless, wise, ami beneficent Constitution. I pray the ' 
gress of the United State- to propose to the people ail needful 
amendments to the Constitution, that by their sovereign act they 
may crown the republic for all time with the greatness of 
justice." 

Mr. Broomall, of Pennsylvania, presented an objection to the 
resolution which had not been alluded to by any gentleman on 
the floor. lie said: "The resolution provides that whenever the 
elective franchise -ball be denied or abridged in any State, on 
ace 'unt of race or color, all persons of such race or color shall be 
excluded from the ba.-is of representation. Now, there i- a great 
deal of indefiniteness in both those term-, 'race' and -color.' 

'• What i- a race of men? Writers upon the subject of v. 
differ very materially on this point. Some of them would make 
four or five races: others fifteen; and one, whom I might name, 
seems inclined not to limit the number short of a thousand. 1 
myself am inclined to think that the Celtic race is a distinct one 
from our-. 1 think that any gentleman who has studied this 
subject attentively will at least have doubts whether or not the 
race that appear- t<» have inhabited Europe in the early bistoric 
period, and has been partly dispossessed there by our-, i- m>t a 
distinct race from ours. 

"Again: the word 'color' i- exceedingly indefinite. If we 
had a constitutional standard of color, that of sole-leather, for 
example, by which to i.-t the State laws upon this subject, there 
might be less danger in incorporating this provision in the Con- 
stitution. I > 1 1 the term 'color' is uowhere defined in the Con- 
stitution or the law. We apply the term to persons who are of 
African descent, whether their color is whiter or darker than ours. 



BASIS OF BEPBESEjYTA TlOJf. 361 

Every one who is familiar with the ethnological condition of 
things here in the United States, and who sec- the general mix- 
ing up of colors, particularly in the Democratic portion of the 
country — I allude to that portion south of Mason and Dixon's 
line — must say with me that the word ' color' has no very dis- 
tinct meaning when applied to the different peoples of the United 
States of America." 

Two Representatives from New York — Mr. Davis and Mr. 
Ward — expressed opinions favorable to a modification of the basis 
of representation, and yet were opposed to the details of the 
proposition before the House. 

Mr. Nicholson, of Delaware, in emphatic terms, denounced the 
acts of a majority of the House in attempting to amend the Con- 
stitution. " If they shall finally triumph," said he, " in the mad 
schemes in which they are engaged, they will succeed in convert- 
ing that heretofore sacred instrument, reverenced and obeved till 
the present dominant party came into power, from a bond of 
union to a galling yoke of oppression — a thing to be loathed and 
despised." 

The discussion was still much protracted. Many members had 
an opportunity of presenting their views and opinions without 
adding much to the arguments for or against the measure. The 
power of debate as well as the power of amendment seemed to 
have exhausted themselves, and yet gentlemen continued to swell 
the volume of both through several days. 

On Friday, January 26th, Mr. Harding, of Kentucky, made a 
violent political speech, ostensibly in opposition to the measure 
before the House. The following is an extract from his remarks : 

" The Republican party have manufactured a large amount of 
capital out of the negro question. First they began with caution, 
now they draw on it as if they thought it as inexhaustible as were 
the widow's barrel of meal and cruse of oil. The feet that the 
negro question has continued so long has been owing to the great 
care with which the Republican party has managed it." 

Mr. McKee, of Kentucky, followed. Referring to his colleague 
who had preceded him, he said: "I regret extremely that In' has 
pursued the same line of policy that gentlemen belonging to the 
same political party have pursued ever since the idea took poss< — 
sion of the Government that the negro was to be a freeman. I lis 
whole speech has been made up of the negro and nothing else. 



/'/.' THE THIRTT-MXTH COX GUI. 

"I would like it if the amendment could go a little beyond 
what it does. I would like so to amend the Constitution that no 
man who had raised his hand against the flag should ever be al- 
lowed to participate in any of the affairs of this Government. 
But it is not probable that we can go that far. Let us go just 
as far as we can. 

•■ < rentlemen say that they are not willing to vote for an amend- 
ment that strikes off a part of the representation of the 
they are not willing to vote for an amendment that lessens Ken- 
tucky"- representation upon this floor. The whole course of my 
colleague's remarks on this point is as the course of his party — 
and I may say of the loyal party in Kentucky — has been thro 
a great part of the war, that Kentucky is the nation, and the 
United States a secondary appendage to her." 

Mr. Kerr, of Indiana, did not desire to be heard at length upon 
the main question before the House, but upon some questions in- 
cidentally connected with it. lie then proceeded to discuss the 
question whether Congress ha- "the power so to regulate the suf- 
frage a- to give the right of suffrage to every male citizen of the 
country of twenty-one years of ag "I propose now," -aid h ■. 

'•for a few moments, to examine this question with a somewhat 
extensive reference to the history of the Constitution in this con- 
nection, and if possible to arrive at a conclusion whether the 
honorable gentleman from Pennsylvania ha- given greater atten- 
tion to the history of this question than the President, and 
whether the conclusion which he has reached i- a safer one for 
the country, or more in harmony with the history and true intent 
of the Constitution, than that of the President." 

Near the close of his remark-, referring to the measure before 
the Bouse, Mr. Kerr remarked: " 1 can see but one single clear 
resull that will follow from this amendment if it is adopted by 
the people of tin- country, and that is an effect that will inure 
not to the advantage of the nation, nor of any State in the Union, 
nor <»f any class or race of men in any State; but it will inure 
.solely to the benefit and advantage of the Republican party. In 
my judgment, the only p rsons who will gain by this provision 
will be the now dominant party in this country. They will 
thereby increase their power \ they will thereby degrade the 
South; they will reduce her representation here, and relatively 
Increase their own representation : they will confirm the sectional 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 363 

Supremacy of the Xorth in the legislation and administration of 
tin Government. They may thus compel the South to become 
suppliants at their feet for justice, and it may be for mercy." 

?s I f. Kasson, of Iowa, and Mr. Wright, of New Jersey, made 
extended remarks, avowedly in opposition to the measure, but 
dwelling, for the greater portion of their time, upon subjects re- 
motely connected with the resolution before the House 

Discussion was resumed in the House on Monday, January 
29th. The question having become much complicated by the 
numerous propositions to amend, the Speaker, by request of Mr. 
Conkling, stated the exact position of the subject before the 
House, and the various questions pending. The Speaker said : 
" The committee having reported this joint resolution, the gen- 
tleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens] moved to amend by 
inserting the word ' therein ' after the words ' all persons,' in the 
last clause of the proposed amendment to the Constitution. 

" Pending that motion, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. 
Kelley] moved an entirely new proposition in the nature of a 
substitute for the joint resolution reported from the joint com- 
mittee, proposing an amendment to the Constitution differing 
from the one reported from the committee. The gentleman from 
Illinois [Mr. Baker] also submitted for his colleague [Mr. In- 
gersoll] a proposition in the nature of a substitute for the one 
reported from the committee, as an amendment to the amend- 
ment. 

" Pending those two propositions, the gentleman from Ohio 
[Mr. Lawrence] moved to recommit the joint resolution to the 
joint committee with certain instructions. The gentleman from 
Massachusetts [Mr. Eliot] moved to amend the instructions, and 
the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Schenck] moved to amend the 
amendment. 

" The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Le Blond] also moved to 
commit the whole subject to the Committee of the Whole on the 
State of the Union. The first question will, therefore, be upon 
the motion to commit to the Committee of the Whole, as that 
committee is higher in rank than the joint Committee on Recon- 
struction. 

•• Next after that will be the various motions to recommit with 
instructions. If all those propositions should fail, then the mo- 
tion of the gentleman from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Stevens,] being 



364 THE THIETr-.XlXTil CONGRESS 

for the purpose of per!'. ■.tin-- the original proposition, will come 
up for consideration. Then propositions in the nature of substi- 
tutes will come up for consideration; first the amendment to the 
amendment, proposed by the gentleman from [llinois, [Mr. Ba- 
ker,] and next the substitute amendment of the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania [Mr. Eelley]." 

Mr. Raymond, of New York, made a speech three hours in 
length, in opposition to the proposed amendment to th< I isti- 
tution. Be discussed the general questions of reconstruction, 
affirming that the Southern States had resumed their functions 
of self-government in the Union, that they did not change their 
constitutional relations by making war, and that Congress should 
admit their Representatives by districts, receiving only loyal men 
as members. 

The closing words of Mr. Raymond's speech excited great 
sensation and surprise. They were as follows: "The gigantic 
contest is at an end. The courage and devotion on either side 
which made it so terrible and so long, no longer owe a divided 
duty, but have become the common property of the American 
name, the priceless possession of the American Republic through 
all time to come. The dead of the contending hosts sleep beneath 
the soil of a common country, and under one common flag. Their 
hostilities are hushed, and they are the dead of the nation for- 
ever more. The victor may well exult in, the victory he has 
achieved. Let it be our task, as it will be our highest glory, to 
make the vanquished, and their posterity to the latest generation, 
rejoice in their defeat/' 

Mr. Julian could not accept heartily the proposition report, d 
by the joint committee. He thus presented what he considered 
a preferable plan: "Undo' the constitutional injunction upon the 
United States to guarantee a republican form of government to 
every State. 1 believe the power already exists in the nation to 
regulate the right of suffrage. It can only exercise this power 
through Congress; and Congress, of course, must decide what is 
a republican form of government, and when the national authority 
shall interpose against State action for the purpose of executing 
the constitutional guarantee. No one will deny the authority of 
Congress to decide that if a Stale Bhould disfranchise one-third, 

one-half, or two-third- of her citizens, Such State would cea-e to 

be republican, and mighl be required to accept a different rule 



BASIS OF R EPR ES E, \ ' T. I TTO.X. 065 

of suffrage. If Congress could intervene in such a rase, it could 
obviously intervene iu any other case in which it might deem it 
necessary or proper. It certainly might decide that the disfran- 
chisement by a State of a whole race of people within her bor- 
ders is inconsistent with a republican form of government, and 
in their behalf, and in the execution of its own authority and 
duty, restore them to their equal right with others to the fran- 
chise. It might decide, for example, that in North Carolina, 
where 631,000 citizens disfranchise 331,000, the government is 
not republican, and should be made so by extending the fran- 
chise. It might do the same in Virginia, where 719,000 citizens 
disfranchise 533,000; in Alabama, where 596,000 citizens dis- 
franchise 437,000 ; in Georgia, where 591,000 citizens disfran- 
chise 465,000; in Louisiana, where 357,000 citizens disfranchise 
350,000; in Mississippi, where 353,000 citizens disfranchise 
436,000; and in South Carolina, where only 291,000 citizens 
disfranchise 411,000. Can any man who reverences the Consti- 
tution deny either the authority or the duty of Congress to do 
all this in the execution of the guarantee named? Or if the 
411,000 negroes in South Carolina were to organize a govern- 
ment, and disfranchise her 291,000 white citizens, would any 
body doubt the authority of Congress to pronounce such govern- 
ment antirepublican, and secure the ballot equally to white and 
black citizens as the remedy? Or if a State should prescribe as 
a qualification for the ballot such an ownership of property, real 
or personal, as would disfranchise the great body of her people, 
could not Congress most undoubtedly interfere? So of an edu- 
cational test, which might fix the standard of knowledge so high 
as to place the governing power in the hands of a select few. 
The power in all such cases is a reserved one in Congress, to be 
exercised according to its own judgment, with no accountability 
to any tribunal save the people; and without such power the 
nation would be at the mercy of as many oligarchies as there are 
States. It is true that the power of Congress to guarantee repub- 
lican governments in the States through its intervention with the 
question of suffrage has not hitherto been exercised, but this 
certainly does not disprove the existence of such power, nor the 
expediency of its exercise now, under an additional and inde- 
pendent constitutional grant, and when a fit occasion for it has come 
through the madness of treason. Why temporize by adopting 



See TEE THIRTT-XIXTH CONGRESS. 

half-way measures and a policy of indirection? The shortest 
distance between two given points is a straight line. Let us 
follow it in so important a work as amending the Constitution. 

"How do you know thai the broad proposition I advo 
will fail in Congress or before the people? These are revolu- 
tionary days. Whole generations of common time are now 
crowded into the span of a few years. Life was never befon - 
grand and blessed an opportunity. The man mistakes his reck- 
oning who judges either the present or the future by any polit- 
ical almanac of bygone years. Growth, development, prog 
are the expressive watchwords of the hour. Who can remember 
the marvelous events of the past four years, necessitated by the 
late war, and then predict the failure of further measures, woven 
into the same fabric, and born of the same inevitable Logic?" 

On .Monday, January 30th, the proposed constitutional amend- 
ment was recommitted to the joint Committee on Reconstruction. 
On the following day Mr. Stevens reported back the joint reso- 
lution, with an amendment -triking out the words "and direct 
taxes," so as to fix simply the basis of representation in Congri ss 
upon population, excluding those races or colors to which the 
franchise is denied or abridged. 

Mr. Schenck offered a substitute making "male citizens of the 
United States over twenty-one years" the basis of representation. 
Mr. Schenck occupied a few minutes in advocating his proposi- 
tion. 

( )n the other hand, Mr. Benjamin, of Missouri, objected to the 
substitute as greatly to the detriment of Missouri, since it would 
reduce her representation in Congress from nine to four, because 

she has endeavored to place the Government in loyal hand- by 
disfranchising the rebel element of that State. In doing this 
she had disfranchised one-half her voter-. 

The previous question having been called, Mr. Stevens made 
the closing speech of the protracted discussion. In the opening 
of his speech, Mr. Stevens said: " It is true we have 1 n in- 
formed by high authority, at the other end of the avenue intro- 
duced through an unusual conduit, that no amendment i- ie 

Bary to the Constitution as our fathers made it, and that it is 
better to let it Maud as it is. Now. sir, I think very differently, 
myself, for one individual. T believe there is intrusted to this 
Congress a high duty, no less important and no less fraught with 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 307 

the weal or woe of future ages than was intrusted to the august 
body that made the Declaration of Independence. I believe now, 
if we omit to exercise that high duty, or abuse it, we shall be 
held to account by future generations of America, and by the 
whole civilized world that is in favor of freedom, and that our 
nanus will go down to posterity with some applause or with 
black condemnation if we do not treat the subject thoroughly, 
honestly, and justly in reference to every human being on this 
continent." 

That the above paragraph may be understood, it will be nec- 
essary to state that the President of the United States himself 
had taken part in the discussion of the measure pending before 
Congress. The " unusual conduit " was the telegraph and the 
press — the means by which his opinions were given to Congress 
and the public. The President's opinions were expressed in the 
following paper, as read by the Clerk of the House, at the re- 
quest of several members : 

"The following is the substance of a conversation which took place yes- 
terday between the President and a distinguished Senator, as telegraphed 
North by the agent of the Associated Press : 

"The President said that he doubted the propriety at this time of making 
further amendments to the Constitution. One great amendment had already 
been made, by which slavery had forever been abolished within the limits 
of the United States, and a national guarantee thus given that the institu- 
tion should never exist in the land. Propositions to amend the Constitution 
were becoming as numerous as preambles and resolutions at town meetings 
called to consider the most ordinary questions connected with the adminis- 
tration of local affairs. All this, in his opinion, had a tendency to diminish 
the dignity and prestige attached to the Constitution of the country, and to 
lessen the respect and confidence of the people in their great charter of 
freedom. If, however, amendments are to be made to the Constitution, 
changing the basis of representation and taxation, (and he did not deem them 
at all necessary at the present time,) he knew of none better than a simple 
proposition, embraced in a few lines, making in each State the number of 
qualified voters the basis of representation, and the value of property the 
basis of direct taxation. Such a proposition, could be embraced in the fol- 
ing terms: 

"'Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States which 
may be included within this Union according to the number of qualified 
voters in each State. 

" 'Direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may 
be included within this Union according to the value of all taxable property 
in each State.' 



SG8 Tin: rinirr\--M.YTii congress. 

■' \ h amendment of this kind would, in bis opinion, place the basis of rep- 
resentation and direct taxation upon correct principlea The qualified vot- 
ers were, for th<- most part, men who were Bubject to draft and enlistment 
when it was necessary to repel invasion, suppress rebellion, and quell do- 
mestic violence and insurrection They risk their lives, shed their blood, 
and peril their all to uphold the Go ernment, ami give protection, security, 
ami value to property. It seemed but just that property Bhould compensate 
for tin- benefits thus conferred by defraying the expenses incident tu its 
protection ami enjoyment 

"Mich an amendment, the President also ted, would remove from 

-^ all i>.>ues in reference to the political equality of the races. It 
would leave the States to determine absolutely the qualifications of their 
own voters with regard to color; ami thus the number of Representatives 
to which they would he entitled in Congress would depend upon the num- 
ber upon whom they conferred the right of suffrage. 

"The President, in this connection, expressed the opinion that the agita- 
tion of the negro-franchise question in the District of Columbia, at this time 
was the mere entering-wedge to the agitation of the question throughout the 
States, and was ill-timed, uncalled tor. and calculated to do great harm. 
lie believed that it would engender enmity, contention, and strife between 
the two races, and lead to a war between them which would result in great 
injury to both, and the certain extermination of the negro population. 
Precedence, he thought, should he given to more important and urgent mat- 
ters, legislation upon which was essential for the restoration of the I nion, 
the peace of the country, and the prosperity of the people/' 

" This," said Mr. Stevens, I take to be an authorized utterance 
of ciio a! the other end of the avenue. I have no douht that this 
is the proclamation, the command of the President of the United 
States, made and put forth by authority in advance, and at a time 
when this Congress was legislating on this very question ; made, 
in my judgment, in violation of the privileges of this Bouse; 
made in such a way that centuries ago, had it been made to Par- 
liament by a British king, it would have cost him his head. But, 
-it-, we pass that by ; we are tolerant of usurpation in this tolerant 
( rovernment of ours." 

In answer to those who contended that Congress should regu- 
late the righl of suffrage in the States, Mr. Stevens said: "If 
you should take away the righl which now is and always has 

been exercised by the State-, by fixing the qualifications of their 
electors, instead of getting nineteen States, which is necessary to 
ratify this amendment; you might possibly get five. 1 ven- 
ture to say you could not gel live in this Union. And that is 
an answer, in the opinion of the committee, to all that has been 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 369 

said on this subject. But it grants no right. It says, however, 
to the State of South Carolina and other slave States, True, we 
leave where it has been left for eighty years the right to fix the 
elective franchise, but you must not abuse it; if yon do, the 
Constitution will impose upon you a penalty, and will continue 
to inflict it until you shall have corrected your actions. 

"Now, any man who knows any thing about the condition of 
aspiration and ambition for power which exists in the slave 
States, knows that one of their chief objects is to rule this conn- 
try. It was to ruin it if they could not rule it. They have not 
been able to ruin it, and now their great ambition will be to rule 
it. If a State abuses the elective franchise, and takes it from 
those who are the only loyal people there, the Constitution says 
to such a State, You shall lose power in the halls of the nation, 
and you shall remain where you are, a shriveled and dried-up 
nonentity instead of being the lords of creation, as you have 
been, so far as America is concerned, for years past. 

"Now, sir, I say no more strong inducement could ever be 
held out to them ; no more severe punishment could ever be in- 
flicted upon them as States. If they exclude the colored popu- 
lation, they will lose at least thirty-five Representatives in this 
hall; if they adopt it, they will have eighty-three votes." 

Mr. Stevens urged several objections to the proposition of Mr. 
Schenck. He said: "If I have been rightly informed as to the 
number, there are from fifteen to twenty Representatives in the 
Northern States founded upon those who are not citizens of the 
United States. In New York I think there are three or four 
Representatives founded upon the foreign population — three cer- 
tainly. And so it is in Wisconsin, Iowa, and other Northern 
States. There are fifteen or twenty Northern Representatives 
that would be lost by that amendment and given to the South 
whenever they grant the elective franchise to the negro. 

"Now, sir, while I have not any particular regard for any for- 
eigner who goes against me, yet I do not think it would be wise 
to put into the Constitution or send to the people a proposition 
to amend the Constitution which would take such Representatives 
from those States, and which, therefore, they will never adopt. 

"But I have another objection to the amendment of my friend 
from Ohio. His proposition is to apportion representation ac- 
cording to the male citizens of the States. Why has he put in 
24 



.0 THE THIRTY-NINTH COJfGRES 

the word 'male?' It was never in the ( lonstitution of the United 
States before. Why make a erusade against women in the Con- 

tution of the nation? [Laughter.] Is ray friend as much afraid 
of their rivalry as the gentlemen on the other side of the House 
are afraid of the rivalry of the negro? [Laughter.] I do not think 
we ought to disfigure the Constitution with 3uch a provision. I 
find that every unmarried man is opposed to the proposition. 
Whether married men have particular reason for dreading inter- 
ference from that quarter I know not. [Laughter.] I certainly 
shall never vote to insert the word 'male' or the word 'white' 
in the national Constitution. Let these things be attended to by 
the States." 

In answer to the objection that the amendment proposed by the 
committee " might be evaded by saying that no man who had ever 
been a slave should vote, and that would not be disfranchisement 
on account of race or color," Mr. Stevens said : " Sir, no man in 
America ever was or ever could be a slave if he was a white man. 
I know white men have been held in bondage contrary to law. 
But there never was a court in the United States in a slave State 
or a free State, that has not admitted that it' one held as a slave 
could prove himself to be white, he was that instant free. And. 
therefore, such an exclusion, on account of previous condition of 
slavery, must be an exclusion on account of race or color. Chere- 
fore that objection falls to the ground." 

In reply to the closing paragraph of Mr. Raymond's speech, 
Mr. Stevens said: "I could not but admire (an admiration min- 
gled with wonder) the amiability of temper, the tenderness of heart, 
the generosity <>\' feeling which must have prompted some of the 

closing sentences of the excellent and able sp b delivered by the 

gentleman <>n last Monday. His words were these: 

" 'The gigantic contest i< at an end. Th turage and devotion on either 

Bide, which made it so terrible and so long, no longer owe a divided duty, 
but have become the common property of the American name, the priceless 

po ion of the American Republic, through all time to come. The dead 

of th intending hosts sleep beneath the Boil of a common country, under 

their common Bag Their hostilities are hushed, and they are the dead of 
the nation for evermore 

- Sir, much more than amiable, much more than religions, must 

be the sentiment that would prompt any man to say that 'the 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 371 

courage and devotion ' which so long withstood our arms, pro- 
longing the terrible conflict of war, and sacrificing the lives of 
thousands of loyal men, arc hereafter to be the common boast of 
the nation, 'the priceless possession of the American Republic 
through all time to come;' that it is the pride of our countrv so 
many infamous rebels were so ferocious in their murders. 

"Sir, we are to consider these dead on both sides as the dead 
of the nation, the common dead! And so, I suppose, we are to 
raise monuments beside the monuments to Reynolds and others, 
to be erected in the cemetery on the battle-field of Gettysburg. 
We must there build high the monumental marble for men like 
Barksdale, whom I have seen in this hall draw their bowie-knives 
on the Representatives of the people; men who died upon the 
battle-field of Gettysburg in arms against the Government, and 
where they now lie buried in ditches, 'unwept, unhonored, and 
unsung!' They are, I suppose, to be raised and put into the 
fore-front ranks of the nation, and we are to call them through 
all time as the dead of the nation ! Sir, was there ever blasphemy 
before like this? Who was it burnt the temple of Ephesus? 
Who was it imitated the thunder of Jove? All that was poor 
compared with this blasphemy. I say, if the loyal dead, who 
are thus associated with the traitors who murdered them, put by 
the gentleman on the same footing with them, are to be treated 
as the 'common dead of the nation' — I say, sir, if they could 
have heard the gentleman, they would have broken the cerement-; 
of the tomb, and stalked forth and haunted him until his eye-balls 
were seared." 

The rpiestion was first taken on the substitute offered bv Mr. 
Schenck, which was rejected by a vote of one hundred and thirty- 
one to twenty-nine. 

The question was then taken on agreeing to the joint resolution 
as modified by the committee, and it was decided in the affirma- 
tive bv the following vote : 

Yeas — Messrs. Alloy. Allison, Amos. Anderson. James M Ashley, Baker, 
Banks, Barker, Baxter, Beaman, Benjamin, Bidwell, Bingham, Blaine, Blow, 
Boutwell, Brandegee, Bromwell, Broomall, Buckland, Bundy, Reader W. 

Clarke, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Conkling, Cook, Cullom, Darling, Davis. Dawes, 
Defrees, Delano, Doming, Dixon, Donnelly, Eckley, Eggleston, Farnaworth, 
Farquhar, Ferry, Garfield, Grinnell, Griswold, Abner C. Harding, Dart, 

Hayes, Hill. Holmes, Hooper, Hotehkiss, Asahel W. Hubbard. Chester D. 



s: -' riii: thirty-ninth coj\ 

Hubbard, Demas Hubbard, Jobn IT Hubbard, James \l Hubbell, Halburd, 
James Humphrey, Ingersoll, Julian, Kasson, Kelley, Kelso Ketcham, Kuv- 
kendall, Laflin, George \ Lawrence, William Lawrence, Longyear, Lynch, 
Marston, Marvin, McClurg Mclndoe, McKee, Mercur, Miller, Moorhead, 
Morrill, Morris, Moulton, Myers, O'Neill, Orth, Paine, Patterson, Perham, 
Pike. Plants Pomeroj Price, Alexander II Rice John II Rice, Rolli 
Sawyer, Schenck, Scofield, Shellabarger, Sl< 3 dding, Starr. Stevei 

Stilwell, Thayer, Francis Thomas, John L Thomas, Upson Van Aemam, 
Burt Van Horn, Robert T. Van Horn, Ward Warner, Elihu I!. Washburne, 
William I! Washburn, Welker, Wentworth, William-, James F. Wilson, 
Stephen F. Wilson, Windom, and Woodbridg< — 12 

Nays — Messrs. Baldwin, Bergen, Boyer, Brooks Chanler Dawson, Dei 
nison, Eldridge Eliot, Pinck, Grider, Hale, Aaron Harding, Harris, Hogan, 
Edwin X. Hubbell, James M. Humphrey, Jenckes, Johnson Kerr, Latham, 
Le Blond, Mar-hall. McCullough, Niblack, Nicholson, Noell, Phelps, Sam- 
uel J. Randall, William 11. Randall, Raymond, Ritter, Rogers, Ross R • 

u, Shanklin, Sitgreaves, Smith. Strouse, Taber, Taylor, Thornton, Trim' 
Voorhees, Whaley, and Wright — 16. 

N< i Voting — Messrs. Ancona, Delos R. Ashley, Culver, Driggs, Dumont, 
Glos8brenner, Goodyear, Henderson, Higby, Jones, Loan McRuer, Newell, 
Radford, Trowbridge, and Winfield — 16. 

Two-thirds having voted in the affirmative, the Speaker de- 
clared the joint resolution adopted. 

The strong vote by which this measure was passed, after so 
genera] an expression of dissent from it, excited some surprise. 
Many gentlemen evidently surrendered their individual prefer- 
ences for the sake of unanimity. They believed that this was the 
best measure calculated to secure just representation, which would 
pass the ordeal of Congress and three-fourths of the States. They 
accepted the " rule of statesmanship," t<> " take the best attainable, 
essentia] good which is at our command." 

A disposition t<> rebuke supposed Executive dictation had some 
effect to produce an unexpected unanimity in favor of the measure. 
One Rhode [sland and two Massachusetts members insisted on 
national negro suffrage, and voted against the amendments. Mr. 
Raymond ami Mr. Hale, of New York, were the only Repub- 
licans who voted against the measure in accordance with the 
President's opinions. Of the border slave State members, ten 
voted for the amendment and sixteen against it. 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 373 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE BASIS OF REPRESENTATION— IN THE SENATE. 

The Joint Resolution goes to the Senate — Counter-proposition by Mr. 
Sumner — He Speaks Five Hours — Mb. Henderson's Amendment — Mr. 
Fessenden — Mr. Henry S. Lane — Mr. Johnson — Mr. Henderson — Mr. 
Clark's Historical Statements — Fred. Douglass' Memorial — Mr. Wil- 
liams — Mr. Hendricks — Mr. Chandler's "Blood-letting Letter" — 
Proposition of Mr. Yates — His Speech — Mr. Buckalbw against New 
England — Mr. Pomeroy — Mr. Sumner's Second Speech — Mr. Doolittle 
— Mr. Morrill — Mr. Fessenden meets Objections — Final Vote — The 
Amendment Defeated. 

THE joint resolution, providing for amending the basis of 
representation, having passed the House of Representatives 
on the last day of January, 1866, the action of that body 
was communicated to the Senate. The Civil Rights Bill at that 
time occupying the attention of the Senate, Mr. Fessenden gave 
notice that unless something should occur to render that course 
unwise, he would ask that the consideration of the proposed 
constitutional amendment should be taken up on the following 
Monday, February 5th. 

On the second of February, Mr. Sumner gave notice of his 
intention to move a joint resolution as a counter-proposition to 
the proposed constitutional amendment. Mr. Sumner's resolution 
was as follows : 

Whereas, it is provided in the Constitution that the United States shall 
guarantee to every State in the Union a republican form of government ; ami 
whereas, by reason of the failure of certain States to maintain Governments 
which Congress can recognize, it has become the duty of the United Si 
standing in the place of guarantor, where the principal lias made a lapse, 
to secure to such States, according to the requirement of the guarantee, 
governments republican in form: and whereas, further, it is provided in a 
recent constitutional amendment, that Congress may 'enforce the prohibi- 



3 74 THE THIRTY-NINTH C0MG1 

tion of Blavery by 'appropriate Legislation,' and it is important to this end 
that all relics of slavery should be removed, including -.ill dis a of 

rights "ii a< unt of color; now, therefore, to carry out the guarantei 

republican form of government, and to enforce tin- prohibition of slavery, 

/, S H ' ''•' 

M f j < :'. That in all States lately declared to 

bi in rebellion there shall 1»- no oligarchy, aristocracy, caste, or monopoly 
invested with peculiar privi Dr powers, and there shall be no denial of 

rights, civil or political, on account <A' color or race; but all persons shall 

I ,ual before the law, whether in the court-room or at the ballot-box; 

and this statute, made in pursuance of the Constitution, shall be the • 
preme law of the land, any thing in the constitution or laws of any such 
i the contrary notwithstanding. 

According to notice given by the Chairman of the joint Com- 
mit!-.' on Re istruction on the part of the Senate, the proposed 

constitutional amendment came up for consideration on the iit'th 
<it' February. 

Mr. Sumner addressed the Senate in opposition to the measure. 
His speech was five hours in Length, and occupied pari- of the 
teions of two days in its delivery. Mr. Sumner argued that 
the proposed amendment would introduce "discord and defile- 
ment into the Constitution," by admitting that rights could bo 
"denied or abridged on account of race or color." and that by its 
adoption Congress would prove derelict to its constitutional duty 
to guarantee a republican form of government to each State, an<1 
that having already legislated to protect th ■ colored race in civil 
rights, it is hound to secure to them political rights also. 

i loncerning the < Jommittee on Reconstruction and their propo- 
sition. Mr. Sumner -aid: " Knowing, as I do. the eminent char- 
acter of the committee, its intelligence, it- patriotism, and the 
moral instincts by which it i- moved, 1 am at a los- to under- 
stand the origin of a proposition which seems to me nothing else 
than another compromise of human rights, a- if the country 
had not already paid enough in co-tly treasure and more costly 
blood for such compromise- in the past. 1 hail hoped that the 
d \ of compromise with wrong had passed forever. Ample ex- 
perience -how- that it i- the least practical mode of settling qu 
tion- involving moral principles. A moral principle can not bo 
ipromised." 

lie thoughl the proposed change in the Constitution could not 
properly be called an amendment. " For some time we have heen 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 375 

carefully expunging from the statute-book the word 'white,' and 
now it is proposed to insert in the Constitution itself a distinc- 
tion of color. An amendment, according to the dictionaries, 
is 'an improvement' — 'a change for the better.' Surely tin- 
present proposition is an amendment which, like the crab, goes 
backward." 

This measure would not accomplish the results desired by its 
authors. " If by this," said he, "you expect to induce the recent 
slave-master to confer the right of suffrage without distinction 
of color, you will find the proposition a delusion and a snare. 
He will do no such thing. Even the bribe you offer will not 
tempt him. If, on the other hand, yon expect to accomplish a 
reduction of his political power, it is more than doubtful if you 
will succeed, while the means you employ are unworthy of our 
country. There are tricks and evasions possible, and the cunning 
slave-master will drive his coach and six through your amend- 
ment, stuffed with all his Representatives." 

Drawing toward the close of his speech, Mr. Sumner gave the 
following review of his remarks that had preceded: "We have 
seen the origin of the controversy which led to the revolution, 
when Otis, with such wise hardihood, insisted upon equal rights, 
and then giving practical effect to the lofty demand, sounded the 
battle-cry that 'Taxation without Representation is Tyranny.' 
We have followed this controversy in its anxious stages, where 
these principles were constantly asserted and constantly denied, 
until it broke forth in battle; we have seen these principles 
adopted as the very frontlet of the republic, when it assumed its 
place in the family of nations, and then again when it ordained 
its Constitution; we have seen them avowed and illustrated in 
memorable words by the greatest authorities of the time; lastly, 
we have seen them embodied in public acts of the States collect- 
ively and individually; and now, out of this concurring, cumu- 
lative, and unimpeachable testimony, constituting a speaking 
aggregation absolutely without precedent, I offer you the Amer- 
ican definition of a republican form of government, It is in vain 
that you cite philosophers or publicists, or the examples of former 
history. Against these i put the early and constant postulates 
of the fathers, the corporate declarations of the fathers, the avowed 
opinions of the fathers, and the public- acts of the fathers, all with 
one voice proclaiming, first, that all men are equal in right-, and, 



37 G THE Till UT) --.VI XT 1 1 CONGRESS. 

secondly, that governments derive their just powers from the 
consent of the govern, d ; and here is the American idea of a 
republic, which must be adopted in the interpretation of the 
National Constitution. You can not reject it. As well reject the 
Decalogue in determining moral duties, or as well reject the mul- 
tiplication table in determining a question of arithmetic." 

Maintaining that "the rebel States are not republican govern- 
ments," Mr. Sumner said : "Begin with Tennessee, which dis- 
franchises 283,079 citizens, being more than a quarter of its whole 
' people. 5 Thus violating a distinctive principle of republican 
government, how can this State be recognized as republican? 
This question is easier asked than answered. But Tennessee is 
the least offensive on the list. There is Virginia, which dis- 
franchises 549,019 citizens, being more than a third of its whole 
'people' There is Alabama, which disfranchises 136,030 citi- 
zens, being nearly one half of its whole 'people.' There is 
Louisiana, which disfranchises 350,546 citizens, being one half of 
its whole ■ people.' There is Mississippi, which disfranchises 
137,404 eiti/ens, being much more than one half of its whole 
'people.' And there is South Carolina, which disfranchises 
412,408 citizens, being nearly two-third- of it- whole c people.' 
A republic is a pyramid standing on the broad mass of the p - 
pie as a base; but here is a pyramid balanced on its point. To 
call such a government 'republican' is a mockery of sense and 
decency. A monarch, 'surrounded by republican institution-.' 
which at one time was the boasl of Franc,-, would be less offensive 
to correct principle-, and give more security to human rights." 

Of the Southern system of government he said: " It is essen- 
tially a monopoly, in a country which sets it- face against all 
monopolies as unequal and immoral. If any monopoly deserves 
unhesitating judgment, it musl he that which absorbs the rights 
of others and engrosses political power. I low vain it i- to con- 
demn the petty monopolies of commerce, and then allow this vast, 
all-embracing monopoly of human rights.' 

Mr. Sumner maintained that the ballot was the great guaran- 
tee— " the only sufficient guarantee— being in itself peacemaker, 
reconciler, school*master, and protector." The result of conferring 
suffrage upon the negro will he. ••The master will recognize the 
new citizen, d'he slave will Btand with tranquil self-respect in 
the presence of the master. Brute force disappears. Distrust is 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 377 

at an end. The master is no longer a tyrant. The freedman is 
no longer a dependent. The ballot comes to him in his depres- 
sion, and says, 'Use nie and be elevated.' It comes to him in his 
passion, and says, 'Use me and do not fight.' It conies to him 
in his daily thoughts, filling him with the strength and glory of 
manhood." 

Most beneficent results, it was thought, would flow from such 
legislation as that advocated by Mr. Sumner. " I see clearly," 
said he, "that there is nothing in the compass of mortal power so 
important to them in every respect, morally, politically, and eco- 
nomically — that there is nothing with such certain promise to them 
of beneficent results — that there is nothing so sure to make their 
land smile with industry and fertility as the decree of equal rights 
which I now invoke. Let the decree go forth to cover them with 
blessings, sure to descend upon their children in successive genera- 
tions. They have given us war; we give them peace. They have 
raged against us in the name of slavery ; we send them back the 
benediction of justice for all. They menace hate; we offer in re- 
turn all the sacred charities of country together with oblivion of 
the past, This is our ' Measure for Measure.' This is our retali- 
ation. This is our only revenge." 

The following was the closing paragraph of Mr. Sumner's 
speech : " The Roman Cato, after declaring his belief in the im- 
mortality of the soul, added, that if this were an error, it was an 
error which he loved. And now, declaring my belief in liberty 
and equality as the God-given birthright of all men, let me say, 
in the same spirit, if this be an error, it is an error which I love; 
if this be a fault, it is a fault which I shall be slow to renounce; 
if this be an illusion, it is an illusion which I pray may wrap the 
world in its angelic arms." 

On the seventh of February, the subject being again before the 
Senate, Mr. Henderson, of Missouri, moved to strike out the con- 
stitutional amendment proposed by the committee and insert the 
following : 

"Article 14. No State, in prescribing the qualifications requisite for elec- 
tors therein, shall discriminate against any person on account of color or 
race." 

Mr. Fessenden made a speech in favor of the report of the com- 
mittee, and in reply to Mr. Sunnier. Referring to the subject of 
constitutional amendments, Mr. Fessenden said: " Something has 



THE THIRTY-.Xr.YTH CONGRE& 

been said, also, on differenl occasions, with reference to a «li~p<'-i- 
tion that i- said to prevail now in amend the Constitution, ami 
the forbearance of Congress has been invoked with regard to 
that venerable and great instrument. 1 believe that I have - 
much veneration for the Constitution as most men, and I believe 
that I have as high an opinion of it- wisdom; but, sir, I proba- 
bly have no better opinion of it than those who made it. and it 
did not .-••••in to them, a- we learn from it- very provisions, that 
it was so perfect that no amendment whatever could be made that 
would be, in the language of the Senator from Massachusetts, an 
improvement. Why. sir, they provided themselves, as we all 
know, in the original instrument, for it- amendment. They, in 
the very earliest days of our history, amended it themseh -." 

The result of retaining the "Constitution as it is" would be 
this: "The continuance of precisely the same rule, and the foster- 
ing of a feeline which the honorable Senator from Massachusetts 
ha- well proven to be contrary to the very foundation principles 
of a republican government. There can be no question that such 
would he the result ; and we should have in a portiou of the States 
all the people represented and all the people acting, and in an- 
other portion of the Statc< all the people represented and but a 
portion of the people only exercising political rights and retain- 
ing them in their own hands. Such has been the case, and such, 
judging of human nature a- it is, we have a right to suppose will 
continue t<> be the case." 

The measure proposed by the committee was not entirely satis- 
factory to Mr. Fessenden. " I am free to coin;—." said he, " that 
could I legislate upon that subject, although I can see difficulties 
that would arise from it, yet trusting to time to -often them, and 
being desirous, if I can, to put into the Constitution a principle 
that commends itself to the consideration of every enlightened 
mind at once, 1 would prefer something of that sort, a distinct 
proposition that all provisions in the constitution or laws of any 
State making any distinction in civil or political rights, or priv- 
ileges, or immunities whatever, should he held unconstitutional, 
inoperative, and void, or word- to that effect. 1 would like that 
much better; and I take it there arc not many Senator- within 
the sound of my voice who would not very much prefer it ; but, 
after all. the committee did not recommend a provision of that 
description, and I stand here a- the organ of the committee, ap- 



BASIS OF BEPB ESK YT. 1 TIOK. 37 n 

proving what they have done, ami not disposed to urge my own 
peculiar views, if I have any, against theirs, or to rely exclusively 
on my own judgment so far as to denounce what honorable and 
true men. of better judgments than myself, have thought best to 
recommend, and in which I unite and agree with them." 

After having given objections to limiting the basis of repre- 
sentation to voters, Mr. Fessenden remarked: "And if you ex- 
tend it to citizens, or narrow it to citizens, you make it worse so 
far as many of the States are concerned; for my honorable friends 
from the Pacific coast, where there is a large number of foreign- 
ers, would hardly be willing to have them cut off; and they have 
no benefit, of political power in the legislation of the country 
arising from the number of those foreigners who make a portion 
of their population. The difficulty is, that you meet with troubles 
of this kind every- where the moment you depart from the prin- 
ciple of basing representation upon population and population 
alone. You meet with inequalities, with difficulties, with troubles, 
either in one section of the country or the other, and you are inev- 
itably thrown back upon the original principle of the Constitution. 

" It will be noticed that the amendment which we have thus 
presented has one good quality : it preserves the original basis of 
representation ; it leaves that matter precisely where the Consti- 
tution placed it in the first instance; it makes no changes in that 
respect; it violates no prejudice; it violates no feeling. Even- 
State is represented according to its population with this distinc- 
tion : that if a State says that it has a portion, a class, which is 
not fit to be represented — and it is for the State to decide — it 
shall not be represented; that is all. It has another good point: 
it is equal in its operation; all persons in every State are to be 
counted; nobody is to be rejected. With the very trifling excep- 
tion fixed by the original Constitution, all races, colors, nations, 
languages, and denominations form the basis. 

But, sir, the great excellence of it — and I think it is an excel- 
lent — is ; that it accomplishes indirectly what we may not have 
the power to accomplish directly. If we can not put into the 
Constitution, owing to existing prejudices and existing institu- 
tions, an entire exclusion of all class distinctions, the next ques- 
tion is, can we accomplish that work in any other way?' 

Concerning the "counter-proposition" of Mr. Sumner, the 
speaker said: "It is, in one sense, like a very small dipper with 



380 THE TniRTT-XINTH CONGRESS. 

• 

a very long handle; for the preamble is very much more diffuse 
than the proposed enactmenl itself. I looked to see what came 
next. 1 supposed thai after that preamble we should have Bome 
adequate machinery provided for the enforcemenl and security 
of these rights; that we should have the matter put to the 
courts, and if the court- could not accomplish it, that we should 
have the aid of the military power, thus shocking the sensibili- 
ties of my honorable friend from Indiana [Mr. Hendricks] again. 
I do not know what good it docs to merely provide by law that 
the provisions of the Constitution shall be enforced, without say- 
ing how, in what manner, by what machinery, in what way. to 
what extent, or how it is to be accomplished. Why reenact the 
Constitution of the United State- and put it in a bill? What 
do you accomplish by it'.' How is that a remedy? It is simply 
as if it read in this way: Whereas, it is provided in the Consti- 
tution that the United States shall guarantee to every State in 
the Union a republican form of government, therefore we declare 
that there shall be a republican form of government and nothing 
else." 

Mr. Sumner had said, in his speech in opposition to the pro- 
posed amendment, " Above all, do not copy the example of Pon- 
tiu- Pilate, who surrendered the Savior of the world, in whom 
he fouftd no limit at all, to he scourged and crucified, while he 
set at large Barabbas; of whom the Gospel -ays, in simple words, 
•Now, Barabbas was a robber.'" 

To this Mr. Fessenden responded: "Is it a 'mean compro- 
mise' — for so it is denominated — that the Committee of Fifteen 
and the House of Representatives, when they passed it. placed 
themselves in the situation of Pontius Pilate, with the negro for 
the Savior of the world and the people of the United State- for 
Barabbas, as designated by the honorable Senator. Why. sir, I 
expected t<, hear him in the next breath go further than that, and 

.-ay that with the Constitution of the United States and the con- 
stitutions of the States the negro had been crucified, and that 
now, by the amendment of the Constitution, the stone had been 

rolled away from the dour of the sepulcher, and he hail ascended 

to sit on the throne of the Almighty and judge the world! One 
would have keen, permit me to say with all respect, in a- good 
taste a- the other.*' 

lu conclusion, Mr. Fessenden -aid: •• 1 wish to say, in closing, 



BASIS OF REPRESE. YT.l TIOJV. - > 81 

that I commend this joint resolution to the careful consideration 

of the Senate. It is all that we could desire; it is all that our 
constituents could -wish. It docs not accomplish, as it stands now, 
all, perhaps, that it might accomplish; but it is an important 
step in the right direction. It gives the sanction of Congress, in 
so many words, to an important, leading, effective idea. It opens 
a way by which the Southern mind — to speak of it as the South- 
ern mind — may be led to that which is right and just. I have 
hopes, great hopes, of those who were recently Confederates; and 
I believe that now that they have been taught that they can not 
do evil, to all the extent that they might desire, with impunity, 
and when their attention is turned of necessity in the right direc- 
tion, the road will seem so pleasant to their feet, or, at any rate, 
will seem so agreeable to their love of power, that they will be 
willing to walk in the direction that we have pointed. If they 
do, what is accomplished? In process of time, under this con- 
stitutional amendment, if it should be adopted, they are led to 
enlarge their franchise. That necessarily will lead them to con- 
sider how much further they can go, what is necessary in order 
to fit their people for its exercise, thus leading to education, thus 
leading to a greater degree of civilization, thus bringing up an 
oppressed and downtrodden race to an equality, if capable of an 
equality — and I hope it may be — with their white brethren, chil- 
dren of the same Father. 

" And, sir, if this is done, some of us may hope to live — I 
probably may not, but the honorable Senator from Massachusetts 
may — to see the time when, by their own act, and under the 
effect of an enlightened study of their own interests, all men may 
be placed upon the same broad constitutional level, enjoying the 
same rights, and seeking happiness in the same way and under 
the same advantages; and that is all that we could ask." 

On the following day, the discussion was continued by Mr, 
Lane, of Indiana, who addressed the Senate in a speech of two 
hours' duration. Mr. Lane seldom occupied the time of the 
Senate by speech-making, but when he felt it his duty to speak, 
none upon the floor attracted more marked attention, both from 
the importance of his matter and the impressiveness of his 
manner. 

Much of Mr. Lane's speech, on this occasion, was devoted to 
the general subject of reconstruction, since he regards the pend- 



3* THE T1TIETY-.YI.YTII CONGREh 

ing measure as one of a series looking to the ultim. storation 

of the late rebel Stan-. Ele was opposed to undue haste in thi< 
important work. He said: "The danger is of precipitate action. 
Delay is dow what we ueed. The infanl in its tiny fingers plays 
to-day with a handful of acorns, but two hundred year- Inner, 
by the efflux of time, those acorns are the mighty material out 
of which navies are built, the monarch of the forest, defying the 
shock of the storm and the whirlwind. Time is a mighty agent 
in all these affairs, and we should appeal to time. We are not 
ready yel lor a restoration upon rebel votes; we are not ready 
yet tin- a restoration upon colored votes; but, thank God! we are 
willing and able to wait. We have the Government, we have 
the Constitution of the United States, we have the army ami the 
navy, the vast moral and material power of the republic. We 
can enforce the laws in all the rebel States, and we can keep the 
peace until such time as they may be restored with safety to them 
and safety to us." 

Of the measure proposed by the committee, Mr. Lane re- 
marked: "This amendment, as I have already endeavored to 
show, will do away with much of the irregularity now existing, 
and which would exist under a different state of things, the 
blacks being all free. So far as the amendment goes, I approve 
of it, and I think I shall vote for it, but with a distinct under- 
standing that it is not all that we are required to do. that it i- 
not the only amendment to the Constitution that Congress is 

■ 

required to make." 

Mr. Lane expressed his opinion of Mr. Sumner's "counter- 
proposition" in the following Language: "It is a noble declara- 
tion, but a simple declaration, a paper bullet that kills no one, 
and lixev and maintains the rights of no one." 

Of Mr. Henderson's proposition, he said: "It i^ a simple 
amendment to the Constitution of the United State-, that no one 
shall be excluded from the exercise <>f the right of suffrage on 
account of race or color. That begins at the right point. The 

only objection to it is, that its operation can not be immediate, 
and in the mean time the rebels may be permitted to vote, and 
it- adoption by tin' various State Legislatures is exceedingly 
doubtful. I should not doubt, however, that we might secure 
it> adoption by three-fourths of the loyal States who have never 
led; and I believe that whenever that question is presented, 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 383 

the Supreme Court of the United States will determine that a 
ratification by that number of States is a constitutional approval 
of an amendment so as to make it the supreme law of the land. 
I have no doubt about it. 

"If the rebel States are to be organized immediately, the only 
question is whether the right of suffrage shall be given to rebel 
white men or loyal black men. The amendment of the Senator 
from Missouri meets that issue squarely in the face. Whatsoever 
I desire to do I will not do by indirection. I trust I shall always 
be brave enough to do whatsoever I think my duty requires, 
directly and not by indirection." 

Mr. Lane, with several other Western Senators, had been 
counted as opposed to negro suffrage, hence his advocacy of the 
principle gave much strength to those who desired to take a po- 
sition in advance of the proposition of the committee. 

In reply to an oft-reiterated argument that a war of races would 
result from allowing suffrage to the negro, Mr. Lane remarked: 
" If you wish to avoid a war of races, how can that be accom- 
plished? By doing right; by fixing your plan of reconstruction 
upon the indestructible basis of truth and justice. What lesson 
is taught by history ? The grand lesson is taught there that re- 
bellions and insurrections have grown out of real or supposed 
wrong and oppression. A war of races! And you are told to 
look to the history of Ireland, and to the history of Hungary. 
Why is it that revolution and insurrection are always ready to 
break out in Hungary? Because, forsooth, the iron rule of 
Austria has stricken down the natural rights of the masses. It 
is a protest of humanity against tyranny, oppression, that pro- 
duces rebellion and revolution. So in the bloody history of the 
Irish insurrections. Suppose the English Parliament had given 
equal rights to the Irish, had enfranchised the Catholics in Ire- 
land in the reign of Henry VIII, long ere this peace and har- 
mony would have prevailed between England and Ireland. But 
the very fact that a vast portion of a people are disfranchised 
sows the seeds of continual and ever-recurring revolution and 
insurrection. It can not be otherwise. These insurrections and 
revolutions, which are but the protest of our common humanity 
against wrong, are one of the scourges in the hands of Providence 
to compel men to do justice and to observe the right. It is the 
law of Providence, written upon every page of history, that God's 



THE THIRTY-NINTH COJfGREb 

vengeance follows man's wrong and oppression, and it will always 
be so. II' you wish to avoid a war of races, it' you wish to pro- 
duce harmony and peace among tin se people, you must enfranchise 
them all." 

< >n die following day, February 9th, Mr. Johnson, <>f Maryland, 

occupied tin' time devoted by the Senate to a isideration of this 

question with a speech against the proposed amendment of the 
Constitution. Mr. Johnson said that when the Constitution was 
framed there was no such objection to compromising as now ex- 
isted in the minds of some Senators. " The framers of the < Con- 
stitution came t<> the conclusion that the good of the country 
demanded that there should be a compromise, and they proposed, 
as a compromise, the provision as it now stands; and that is, that 
for the purposes of representation, a person held in slavery, or in 
involuntary servitude, shall be esteemed three-fifths of a man and 
two-fifths property j and they established the same rule in relation 
to taxation. They very wisely concluded that, as it \\;is all-im- 
portant that some general rule should be adopted, this was the best 
rule, because promising more than any other rule to arrive at a 
just result of ascertaining the number of Representatives and 
ascertaining the quota of taxation." 

Mr. Johnson did not think that the North needed such a pro- 
vision as this amendment to render her aide to cope with Southern 
statesmanship in Congress: "Are not the North and the <:ate<- 
mi'ii of the North equal to the South and the statesmen of the 
South on all subjects that may come before the councils of the 
nation'.' What is there, looking to the history of the two sections 
in the past, which would lead US to believe that the North is in- 
ferior to the South in any thing of intellectual improvement or 
of statesmanship ? You have proved — and 1 thank God you have 
proved — that if listening to evil counsels, rendered effective, per- 
haps, by your own misjudged legislation, and by the ill-advised 
course of your own population, exhibited through the press and 
the pulpit, a portion of the Smith involved the country in a war, 
the magnitude of which no language can describe — you have 
proved y0UT8elves adequate to the duty of defeating them in their 

mad and, a- fir as the letter of the Constitution is concerned, 
their traitorous purpose. And now, having proved your physical 
manhood, do you doubl your intellectual manhood? NJr. Presi- 
dent, in the presence in which I speak, I am restrained from 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. S85 

speaking- comparatively of the Senate as it is and the Senate as 
it has been; but I can say this, with as much sincerity as man 
ever spoke, that there is nothing to be found in the free States 
calculated to disparage them properly in the estimation of the 
wise and the good. They are able to conduct the Government, 
and they will not be the less able because they have the advice 
and the counsels of their Southern brethren." 

In answer to the position that the Southern States were not 
possessed of a republican form of government, Mr. Johnson re- 
marked : "Did our fathers consider that any one of the thirteen 
States who finally came under the provisions of that Constitution, 
and have ever since constituted a part of the nation, were not 
living under republican forms of government? The honorable 
member will pardon me for saying that to suppose it is to dis- 
parage the memory of those great and good men. There was not 
a State in the Union when the Constitution was adopted that was 
republican, if the honorable member's definition of a republican 
government is the one now to be relied upon. A property qual- 
ification was required in all at that time. Negroes were not al- 
lowed to vote, although free, in most of the States. In the 
Southern States the mass of the negroes were slaves, and, of 
course, were not entitled to vote. If the absence of the universal 
right of suffrage proves that the Government is not republican, 
then there was not a republican government within the limits of 
the United States when the Constitution was adopted ; and yet 
the very object of the clause to guarantee a republican govern- 
ment — and the honorable member's citations prove it — was to 
prevent the existing governments from being changed by revolu- 
tion. It was to preserve the existing governments ; and yet the 
honorable member would have the Senate and the country believe 
that, in the judgment of the men who framed the Constitution, 
there was not a republican form of government in existence. 

" The definition of the honorable member places his charge of 
anti republicanism as against the present forms of constitution upon 
the ground of the right to vote. I suppose the block man lias 
no more natural right to vote than the white man. It is the 
exclusion from the right that affects the judgment of the honora- 
ble member from Massachusetts. Voting, according to him, is a 
right derived from God; it is in every man inalienable; and its 
denial, therefore, is inconsistent and incompatible with the true 
25 



386 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

object <>t* a free government. If it be such a right, it is not less 
a right in the white man than in the black man: it is not less a 
right in the Indian than in the white man or the Mack man: it 
is not less a right in the female portion <>t" our population than 
in tlif male portion. Then the honorable member from Massa- 
chusetts is living in an antirepublican government, and he oughl 
not to stay there a moment if he can find any government which 
would he a government according to his theory. None has ex- 
isted since the world commenced, and it i- not at all likely that 
any will exist in all time to come; but if there is any such gov- 
ernment to l»c found on the face of the earth, let him leave Massa- 
chusetts, let him hug that angelic delusion which he hopes will 
encircle the whole world, and go somewhere, where he can indulge 
it without seeing before him every day conclusive evidence that no 
such illusion exists at home. Leave Massachusetts, 1 beg the 
honorable member, just as soon as you can. or you will never be 
supremely happy." 

In conclusion, Mr. Johnson remarked, referring to the recent 
rebels: "Let us take them to our bosom, trust them, and - I 
believe in my existence, you will never have occasion to regret it. 
You will, if the event occurs, look back to your participation in 
it in future time with unmingled delight, because you will be able 
to date from it a prosperity and a national fame of which the 
world furnishes no example; and you will be able to date from 
it the absence of all cause of differences which can hereafter exist, 
which will keep us together as one people, looking to one destiny, 
and anxious to achieve one renown." 

On Tuesday, February 13th, the Senate resumed the consider- 
ation of the Basis of Representation. Mr. Sumner proposed to 
amend the proviso recommended by the conimitte< — "all persons 
therein of such race or color shall be excluded from the basis of 
representation" — by adding the words "and they -hall be ex- 
empt from taxation of all kinds." 

Mr. Henderson, of Missouri, occupied the attention of the Sen- 
ate, during a considerable part of this and the following day, in a 

s] eh against the proposition of the Committee of Fifteen, which 

he considered a compromise, surrendering the rights of the negro 
out «.f the hand- of the General Government into the hand- of 
States not tit to be intrusted with them. In favor of his own 
amendment prohibiting the State- from disfranchising citizens on 



BASIS OF REPRESE. ^ 'T. 1 TIO. Y. S87 

the ground of color, Mr. Henderson said: "I propose to make 
the State government- republican in fact, as they are in theory. 
The States now have the power and do exclude the negroes for 
no other reason than that of color. If the negro is equally com- 
petent and equally devoted to the Government as the Celt, the 
Saxon, or the Englishman, why should he not vote? If he pays 
his taxes, works the roads, repels foreign invasion with his mus- 
ket, assists in suppressing insurrections, fells the forest, tills the 
soil, builds cities, and erects churches, what more shall he do to 
give him the simple right of saying he must be only equal in 
these burdens, and not oppressed? My proposition is put in the 
least oifensive form. It respects the traditionary right of the 
States to prescribe the qualifications of voters. It does not re- 
quire that the ignorant and unlettered negro shall vote. Its 
words are simply that ' no State, in prescribing the qualifica- 
tions requisite for electors therein, shall discriminate against 
any person on account of color or race.' The States may vet 
prescribe an educational or property test; but any such test shall 
apply to white and black alike. If the black man be excluded 
because he is uneducated, the uneducated white man must be ex- 
cluded too. If a property test be adopted for the negro, as in 
New York, the same test must apply to the white man. It 
reaches all the States, and not a few only, in its operation. I 
confess that, so far as I am personally concerned, I would go still 
further and put other limitations on the power of the States in 
regard to suffrage; but Senators have expressed so much distrust 
that even this proposition can not succeed, I have concluded to 
present it in a form the least objectionable in which I could frame 
it. It will be observed that this amendment, if adopted, will not 
prevent the State Legislatures from fixing official qualifications. 
They may prevent a negro from holding any office whatever 
under the State organization. It is a singular fact, however, that 
to-day, under the Federal Constitution, a negro may be elected 
President, United States Senator, or a member of the lower 
branch of Congress. In that instrument no qualification for 
office is prescribed which rejects the negro. The white man, not 
native born, may not be President, but the native-bom African 
may be. The States, however, may, in this respect, notwith- 
standing this amendment, do what the Federal Constitution never 
did." 



388 THE TEIRTY-NINTR CONGKES& 

Mr. Henderson closed hi ch with the following words: 

"The reasons in favor of my proposition are Inseparably con- 
ted with all I have said. 1 need not repeat them. Ev< ry 
consideration of peace demands it. It must l>c done to remove 
tlf relics of the rebellion; it must be done to pluck out political 
from the body politic, and restore the elementary princi- 
of our Government; it must be done to preserve peace in 
States and harmony in our Federal system; it must be < !■ -m ■ 
ssure the happiness and prosperity of the Southern people 
themselves; it nm-t be done to establish in our institutions the 
principles of universal justice; it must be done to secure the 
strongest possible guarantees against future wars; it must be 
done in obedience to that golden rule which insists upon doing 
to others what we would that others should do unto us; it must 
be done if we would obey the moral law that teaches us to love 
our neighbors as ourselves; in fine, it must be done to purify, 
strengthen, and perpetuate a Government in which are now 
fondly centered the best hopes of' mankind." 

Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, addressed th< S ate on the 
pending measure. lie made the following interesting historical 
statements: "As the traveler who has passed a difficult road, 
when he comes to some high hill looks hack to see the difficult- 
ies which he ha- passed, I turn back, and I ask the Senator to 
turn back, to consider what occurred, as I say, about -ix years 
ago. In the session of L859-60, in the old Senate-chamber, a bill 
was brought into the Senate of the United States by the then 
Senator from Mississippi [Mr. Brown], who was chairman of the 
Committee on the District of Columbia, a place which my friend 

from Maine [Mr. Morrill] now so worthily til! a bill in aid of 

the education of the children of this District. The bill prop 

ant certain tines and forfeitures to the use of the schools, and 
also proposed to tax the people ten cents on every hundred dollars 
of the property in this District for the purpose of educating the 
children. That bill proposed to tax the white man and the black 
man alike; and fearing that the property of the black man would 
Ix" taxed to educate the child of the white man, 1 proposed an 
amendment to the bill, that the tax collected from the black man 
should go to educate the black man'- child. 

"There was also a further provision of the bill, that if the 
District raised a certain amount of money for the education of 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 389 

the children, the Government of the United States would appro- 
priate a like amount from the Treasury. If, for instance, you 
raised $20,000 by taxes on the people in the District, the Gov- 
ernment should pay £-0,000 more, to be added to it for the ed- 
ucation of the children of the District. I moved the amendment 
that no child whose father paid any portion of that tax for the 
education of the children should be excluded from the benefit 
of it, be he white or black; but that there might be no incon- 
venience felt, I agreed to an amendment that the black child 
should not be put into the same school with the white child, but 
that they should be educated in different schools to be provided 
for them; but if the black man paid for educating the children 
of the District, his child should be educated. There was at 
once an outcry, 'Why, this is social equality of the two races; 
this is political equality ;' and they would not consent that the 
black child should be educated, even with the money of the 
black father. That amendment was declared to be carried in the 
Senate of the United States, and after declaring it was carried, 
the Senate adjourned, and after the adjournment, the chairman 
of that committee, Mr. Brown, appealed to me personally if I 
would not withdraw it. I said to him, ' No, I would never 
withdraw it; if you tax the black onan, the black man should 
have a part of, the money that you raise from him to educate 
his child.' 

"After some days, the bill came up again in the Senate of the 
United States, and the Senator from Mississippi, the chairman 
of the Committee on the District of Columbia, got up and in 
open Senate appealed to me, 'Will the Senator from New 
Hampshire withdraw that amendment?' 'Never, Mr. Presi- 
dent.' ' Then,' said the Senator from Mississippi, ' I will lay 
the bill aside, and will not ask the Senate to pass it;' and -<» 
the whole scheme failed, because they would not consent that 
the money of the black man should educate his own child, and 
they could not vote it to educate a white child. 

"Now I turn back to that time six years ago, and I mark 
the road that we have come along. I mark where we struck the 
chains from the black man in this same District, whose child 
you could not educate six years ago; I mark, in this Senate, 
at this very session, that we have passed a bill in aid of the 
Freedmen's Bureau to secure to him his rights in this District; 



THE TIf[j;Tl--M,YTlf COJfGRES 

• 

J mark that all through this nation we have stricken off the 
chains of the slave and secured to the -lav.- his rights elsewhere 
in tli<- Union; and we have now come to the height of the hill, 
ami an- considering whether we will not enfranchise those very 
k men through all the country." 

In favor <>l" granting political rights to tin- negro, Mr. Clark 
made the following remarks: "Mr. President, the question of the 
negro has troubled the nation long. His condition as a slave 
troubled you; and his condition as a freedman troubles you. 
Ar< you sick, heart-sick of this trouble? and do you inquire 
when will it end".' 1 will tell you. When you have given him 
equal rights, equal privileges, ami equal security with other citi- 
zens; when you have opened the way for him to be a man, then 
will yon have rendered exact justice which can alone insure sta- 
bility ami content. 

"Sir, if I ever did hold that this Government was made or 
belonged exclusively to the white man, I should now he ashamed 
to avow it, or to claim for it so narrow an application. The 
black man has made ton many sacrifices to preserve it, and en- 
dangered his life t<"> often in its defense t<> he excluded from it. 
The common sentiment of gratitude should open it- doors t<> him, 
if not political justice and equality. 

"Mr. President] my house once took tire in the night-time; 
my two little l><>y- were asleep in it. when I and their mother 
w< i-e away. The neighbors rushed into it. saved the children, and 
extinguished the flames. When 1 reached it, breathless and ex- 
hausted, the first exclamation was, ' Your children arc safe.' Can 
you tell me how mean a man 1 should have been, and what exe- 
cration 1 should have deserved, it' the next time those neighbors 
came to my house 1 had kicked them out of it'.' Tell me. then, 
I pray you, why two hundred thousand black men, most of whom 
volunteered in fight your battles, who rushed in to save the burn- 
house of your Government, should not be permitted to par- 
ticipate in that Government which they helped to presei 
When you enlisted and mustered these men, when your adjutant- 
general went Smith, and gathered them to the recruiting-office, 
and persuaded them to join your raids-, did he, or any one, tel! 
them this was the white man's Government ? When they came 
to the rendezvous, did you point to the sign over the door, * Black 
men wanted to defend the white man'- Government?' When 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 301 

you put upon them the uniform of the United States, did you say, 
'Don't disgrace it ; this is the white man's Government?' When 
they toiled on the march, in the mud, the rain, and the snow, 
and when they fell out of the ranks from sheer weariness, did 
you cheer them on with the eneouragement that 'this is the 
white man's Government ?' 

"When they stood on picket on the cold, stormy night to guard 
you against surprise, did you creep up and warm their congealing 
blood with an infusion of the white man's Government".' When, 
with a wild hurrah, on the 'double-quick,' they rushed upon the 
enemy's guns, and bore your flag where men fell fastest and war 
made its wildest havoc, where explosion after explosion sent their 
mangled bodies and severed limbs flying through the air, and 
they fell on glacis, ditch, and scarp and counterscarp, did you 
caution them against such bravery, and remind them that ' this 
was the white man's Government?' And when the struggle was 
over, and many had fought ' their last battle,' and you gathered 
the dead for burial, did you exclaim, 'Poor fools! how cheated! 
this is the white man's Government?' No, no, sir; you beck- 
oned them on by the guerdon of freedom, the blessings of an equal 
and just Government, and a ' good time coming.' 

" ' White man's Government,' do you say ? Go to Fort Pil- 
low; stand upon its ramparts and in its trenches, and recall the 
horrid butchery of the black man there because he had joined you 
against rebellion, and then say, if you will, ' This is the white 
man's Government.' Go to Wagner. Follow in the track of the 
Massachusetts Fifty-fourth, as they went to the terrible assault, 
with the guns flashing and roaring in the darkness. Mark how 
unflinchingly they received the pelting iron hail into their bosoms 
and how they breasted the foe! See how nobly they supported, 
and how heroically they fell with their devoted leader; count the 
dead; pick up the severed limbs; number the wounds; measure 
the blood spilled ; and remember why and wherefore and in whose 
cause the negro thus fought and suffered, and then say, if you can, 
'This is the white man's Government.' Go to Port Hudson, go 
to Richmond, go to Petersburg, go anywhere and every-where — 
to every battle-field where the negro fought, where danger was 
greatest and death surest — and tell me, if you can, that ' this is 
the white man's Government.' And then go to Salisbury and 
Columbia and Andersonville. and as you shudder at the ineffable 



30 j Tin: tiiii;t)'-.yi.ytii congress. 

miseries of those dens, and think of those who ran the dead-line, 
and were aol shot, but escaped to the woods and were concealed 
and fed and piloted by the black men, and never once betrayed, 
but often enabled to escape and return to their friends, and then 
tell me if ' this is a white man's < rovernment.' 

" In ancient Rome, when one not a citizen deserved well of the 
republic, be was rewarded by the rights of citizenship, but we 
deny them, and here in America — not in the Confederate States 
of America, where, attempting to found a governmenl upon 
slavery and the subjection of one race to another, it would have 
been fitting, if anywhere, but in the United State- of Am< rica, 
the cardinal principle of whose Government is the equality of all 
men. After these black men have SO nobly fought to maintain 
the one and overthrow the other, when they ask us for the □ 
sary right of suffrage to protect themselves against the rebels they 
have fought, and with whom they are compelled to live, we coolly 
reply. -This is the white man's Government.' Nay, more, and 
worse, we have refused it to them, and allowed it to their and our 
worst enemies, the rebel-. Sir, from the dim and shadowy aisles 
of the past, there comes a cry of 'Shame! shame!' and pagan 
Rome rebukes Christian America. 

" But no! chiefly, Mr. President, do I advocate this right of the 
black man to vote because hf has fought the battles of the repub- 
lic and helped to preserve the Union, but because he is a citizen 
and a man— one of the people, one of the governed — upon whose 
consent, if the Declaration of Independence is correct, the just 
powers of the Governmenl rest; an intelligent being, of whom 
and for whom God will have an account of us, individually and 
as a nation; who-, blood IS one with ours, whose destinies are 
intermingled and run with ours, whose life takes hold on immor- 
tality with ours, and because this right is necessary to develop 
bis manhood, elevate his race, and secure for it a better civiliza- 
tion and a more enlightened and purer Christianity." 

< Mi the loth of February, Mr. Sumner presented a memorial 
from George T. Downing, Frederick Douglass, and other colored 
citizens of the United State-, protesting against the pending con- 
stitutional amendment a- introducing, for the first time, into the 
Constitution a granl to disfranchised men on the ground of race 
or color. In laying this memorial before the Senate, Mr, Sum- 
said: " 1 do not know that I have at any time presented a 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 393 

memorial which was entitled to more respectful consideration than 
this, from the character of its immediate signer.- and from the vast 
multitudes they represent. I hope I shall not depart from the 
proper province of presenting it if I express my entire adhesion 
to all that it says, and if I take this occasion to entreat the Sen- 
ate, i f»t hey will not hearken to arguments against the pending- 
proposition, that they will at least hearken to the voice of these 
memorialists, representing the colored race of our country." 

Mr. Williams, of Oregon, argued in favor of the resolution 
reported by the committee as the best measure before the Senate. 
He was for proceeding slowly in the work of reconstruction. In 
his opinion, neither the negro nor his master was now fit to vote. 
Upon this point he said : " It seems to me there can be little 
doubt that at this particular time the negroes of the rebel States 
are unfit to exercise the elective franchise. I have recently con- 
versed with two officers of the Federal army from Texas, who 
told me that there, in the interior and agricultural portions of 
the State, the negroes do not yet know that they are free; and 
one of the officers told me that he personally communicated to 
several negroes for the first time the fact of their freedom. Eman- 
cipation may be known in the towns and cities throughout the 
South, but the probabilities are that in the agricultural portions 
of that country the negroes have no knowledge that they are free, 
or only vague conceptions of their rights and duties as freemen. 
Sir, give these men a little time; give them a chance to learn that 
they arc free; give them a chance to accpuire some knowledge of 
their rights as freemen ; give them a chance to learn that they 
are independent and can act for themselves; give them a chance 
to divest themselves of that feeling of entire dependence for sub- 
sistence and the sustenance of their families upon the landholders 
of the South, to which they have been so long accustomed ; give 
them a little time to shake the manacles off of their minds that 
have just been stricken from their hands, and I will go with the 
honorable Senator from Massachusetts to give them the right of 
suffrage. And I will here express the hope that the day is not 
far distant when every man born upon American soil, within the 
pah' of civilization, may defend his manhood and his rights as a 
freeman by that most effective ballot which 

'"Executes the freeman's will 
As lightning does the will of God.' 



89 4 THE THIE T J -A 7. V Til c<>.\ '< ; // /■/ S 5 

' rocerning the amendment proposed by Mr. Henderson, Mr. 
Williams said : "All the impassioned declamation and all the 
vehement assertions of the honorable Senator do not changi 
atll •-■! the evidence before our eye- that the people of these 1 Fnited 
States are not prepared to surrender to Congress the absolute 
righl to determine as to the qualifications of voters in the Respect- 
ive States, or to adopt the proposition that all persons, without 
distinction of race or color, shall enjoy political rights and priv- 
ileges equal to those now possessed by the white people of the 
country. Sir, some of the States have lately spoken upon that 
subject. Wisconsin and Connecticut, Northern, loyal, and Repub- 
lican States, have recently declared thai they would not allow the 
negroes within their own borders political rights; and is it prob- 
able that of the thirty-six States, more than six, at the most, 
would at this time adopt the constitutional amendment proposed 
by the gentleman ".' " 

Notwithstanding the temporary darkness of the political sky, 
Mr. Williams saw brilliant prospects before the country. "This 
nation, "' said he, "is to live and not die. God has written it 
among the shining decrees of destiny. Inspired by this hope and 
animated by this faith, we will take this country through all its 
presenl troubles and perils to the promised land of perfect unity 
and peace, where freedom, equality, and justice, the triune and 
tutelar deity of the American Republic, will rule with righteous- 
ness a nation 'whose walls shall be salvation and whose gates 
•praise. 5 " 

At the close of this speech, the Semite being about to proceed 
to a vote upon the pending amendment, it was proposed to defer 
action and adjourn the question over to the following day, for the 
purpose of affording an opportunity for speeches by Senator- who 
were not prepared to proceed immediately. Mr. Fessenden, who 
had the measure in charge, protested against the delays of the 
Senate. "This subject," .-aid he, "ha- dragged along now for 
nearly two weeks. [f members desire to address the Senate, 
they must be prepared to go on and do so withoul a postpone- 
ment from day to day for the purpose of allowing every gentle- 
man to make his speech in the morning, and then adjourning early 
every evening. We shall never get through in thai way. I give 
notice to gentlemen that 1 shall begin to be a little more quar- 
relsom< — I do ool know that it will do an) -after to-day. 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 395 

On the day following, Mr. Hendricks delivered a speech of 
considerable length in opposition to the constitutional amend- 
ment. After having maintained that the proposition did not rest 
the right of representation upon population, nor upon property, 
nor upon voters, Mr. Hendricks inquired : " Upon what prin- 
ciple do Senators propose to adopt this amendment to the Con- 
stitution? I can understand it if you say that the States shall 
be represented in the House of Representatives upon their pop- 
ulation ; I can understand it if you say that they shall be repre- 
sented upon their voters ; but when you say that one State shall 
have the benefit of its non-voting population and another State 
shall not, I can not understand the principle of equity and justice 
which governs you in that measure. Sir, if it does not stand upon 
a principle, upon what does it rest? It rests upon a political 
policy. A committee that had its birth in a party caucus brings 
it before this body, and does not conceal the fact that it is for 
party purposes. This measure, if you ever allow the Southern 
States to be represented in the House of Representatives, will bring 
them back shorn of fifteen or twenty Representatives; it will 
bring them back so shorn in their representation that the Repub- 
lican party can control this country forever; and if you cut off 
from fifteen to thirty votes for President of the United States in 
the States that will not vote for a Republican candidate, it may 
be that you can elect a Republican candidate in 1868." 

Mr. Hendricks thought that " this proposition was designed to 
accomplish three objects : first, to perpetuate the rule and power of' 
a political party ; in the second place, it is a proposition the ten- 
dency of which is to place agriculture under the control and power 
of manufactures and commerce forever; and, in the third place, it 
is intended, T believe, as a punishment upon the Southern States." 

In reference to changing the basis of representation as a pun- 
ishment for the Southern States, Mr. Hendricks said: "Now that 
the war is over; now that the Southern people have laid down 
their arms; now that they have -ought to come again fully and 
entirely into the Union; now that they have pledged their honors 
and their fortunes to be true to the Union and to the flag ; now 
that they have done all that can be done by a conquered people, 
is it right, after a war has been fought out, for us to take from 
them their political equality in this Union for the purpose of 
punishment? The Senator from Maine, the chairman of the 



396 THE THIRTY-NINTH COJVGRE& 

committee, 3ays thai the righl to control the suffrage is with tlie 
States, but if the States do nol choose to do right in respect to it. 
we propose to punish them. You do not punish New York for 
not letting the foreigner vote until he resides there a certain 
period. You do not punish [ndiana because she will not allow 
a foreigner to vote until he has been in the country a year. 
Tin -i' States arc nut to be punished because they regulate the 
elective franchise according to their sovereign pleasures; but it' 
any other State- see tit to deny the right of voting to a class that 
i- peculiarly guarded and taken care of here, then they arc t" be 
punished." 

Referring to the speech of the Senator from New Hampshire, 
Mr. Hendricks asked: " Had the white men of this country a 
right to establish a Government, and thereby a political commu- 
nity? Ef so, they had a right to say who should he members of 
that political community. They had a right to exclude the col- 
ored man if they saw tit. Sir, I say. in the language of the 
lamented Douglas, and in the language of President Johnson, 
this i- the white man's Government, made by the white man for 
the white man. I am not ashamed to stand behind such distin- 
guished men in maintaining a sentiment like that. Nor was my 
judgment on the subject changed the day before yesterday by the 
lamentations of the Senator from New Hampshire, [Mr. Clark.] 
sounding through this body like the wailing- of the winds in the 
dark forest, ' that it is a horrible thing tor a man to say that this 
i- a white man'.- ( iovcrniiient.' 

•'.Mr. President, there is a great deal said about the part the 
colored soldiers have taken in putting down this rebellion — a great 
deal more than there is any occasion for. or there is any support 
for in tact or history. This rebellion was put down by the white 
soldiers of this country." 

Criticising sentiments toward the s.mtl:. expressed by Senators, 
Mr. 1 [endricks said : " We hear a good deal said about blood now. 
Yesterday the Senator from Oregon [Mr. Williams] criticised the 
President for hi- leniency toward the South. A few days 
the Senator from Ohio [Mr. Wade] made a severe criticism on 
the President for hi- leniency, and my colleague asks tor blood. 
Mr. President, this war commenced with blood; nay, blood was 
demanded before the war. When the g 1 men and the patriotic. 

North and South, representing the yearning hearts of the people 



BASIS OF REP R ES E. \ ' T, I TIOK. 89 7 

at home, came here, in the winter and spring of 18G1, in a peace 
congress, if possible to avoid this dreadful war, right then the 
Senator from Michigan [Mr. Chandler] announced to his Gov- 
ernor and the country that this Union was scarcely worth pre- 
serving without some blood-letting. His cry before the war was 
for blood. Allow me to say that when the Senator's name is for- 
gotten because of any thing he says or does in this body, in future 
time it will be borne down upon the pages of history as the author 
of the terrible sentiment that the Union of the people that our 
fathers had cemented by the blood of the Revolution and by the 
love of the people; that that Union, resting upon compromise and 
concession, resting upon the doctrine of equality to all sections of 
the country ; that that Union which brought us so much greatness 
and power in the three-quarters of a century of our life; that that 
Union that had brought us so much prosperity and greatness, 
until we were the mightiest and proudest nation on God's foot- 
stool ; that that grand Union was not worth preserving unless we 
had some blood-letting ! " 

Mr. Chandler, of Michigan, replied : " The Senator from In- 
diana has arraigned me upon an old indictment for having written 
a certain letter in 1861. It is not the first time that I have been 
arraigned on that indictment of ' blood-letting.' I was first ar- 
raigned for it upon this floor by the traitor John C. Breckinridge ; 
and I answered the traitor John C. Breckinridge; and after I 
gave him his answer, he went out into the rebel ranks and fought 
against our flag. I was arraigned by another Senator from Ken- 
tucky and by other traitors upon this floor. I expect to be ar- 
raigned again. I wrote the letter, and I stand by the letter; and 
what was in it? What was the position of the country when that 
letter was written? The Democratic party, as an organization, 
had arrayed itself against this Government — a Democratic traitor 
in the presidential chair, and a Democratic traitor in every de- 
partment of this Government; Democratic traitors preaching 
treason upon this floor, and preaching treason in the hall of the 
other house; Democratic traitors in your army and in your navy; 
Democratic traitors controlling every branch of this Government. 
Your flag was fired upon, and there was no response. The 
Democratic party had ordained that this Government should be 
overthrown ; and I, a Senator from the State of Michigan, wrote 
to the Governor of that State, ' Unless you are prepared to shed 



398 THE I'll ///'/T-. YiM'll CONGRi - 

Ul. mmI for the preservation of this I Government, the Govern- 

i 1 1< 1 1 1 i- overthrown.' That is all there was to that letter. Thai 
T -aid, and that I say again ; and 1 tell that Senator it' he is pre- 
pared tu go down in history with the Democratic traitors who 

then co iperated with him, I am prepared tu go down on that 
'blood-letting 5 letter, and 1 stand by the record as then made." 
[ A.pplause in the galleries.] 

On the 19th i>t' February, Mr. Howard, of Michigan, offered an 
amendment providing thai the right of suffrage .-honld be enjoyed 
by all persons of AiHcan descent belonging to the following clas 
those who have been in the military service of the United Stan-, 
tho.-e who <an read ami write, and those who poss< ss $250 worth 
of property. 

Mr. Yates, of Illinois, addr&ssed the Senate for three hours on 
the pending amendment of the Constitution. On the 29th of 
January preceding, Mr. Yates had proposed a hill providing that 
no State or Territory should make any distinction between citizens 
on account of race, or color, or condition ; and that all citizens, 
without distinction of race, color, or condition, should he protect, d 
in the enjoyment and exercise of all their civil and political rights, 
including the right of suffrage. 

This hill Mr. Yates made the basis of his argument. Hi- 
reason for preferring a bill to a constitutional amendment was 
presented as follows: " There is only one way of salvation for the 
country. Your amendments to the Constitution of the United 
States can not be adopted. If we have not the power now under 
the ( !onstitution of the United States to secure full freedom, then, 
sir, we shall not have it, and there is no salvation whatever for 
the country. Let not freedom die in the house, and by the hands 
of her friends." 

Mr. Y"ates maintained that the constitutional amendment abol- 
ishing slavery cave to Congress power to legislate to the full 
extent of the measure proposed by him. " Let gentlemen come 
forward," said he, "and meet the issue like men. Let them come 

forward and do what they have by the Constitution the clear 
power to do, and that is a aim '/"" /«'" in order to carry into 
effect the constitutional prohibition of slavery. As for me, I 
would rather face the music and meet the responsibility like a 
man, and send to the people of the State of Illinois the boon of 
universal suffrage, and of a full and complete emancipation, than 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 399 

meet the taunt of Northern demagogues that I would force suffrage 
upon North Carolina, and Tennessee, and Delaware, while I had 
not the courage to prescribe it for our own free States. Sir, it 
will be the crime of the century if now, having the power, as we 
clearly have, we lack the nerve to do the work that is given us 
to do. 

"Let me say to my Republican friends, you are too late. You 
have gone too far to recede now. Four million people, one-seventh 
of your whole population, you have set free. Will you start back 
appalled at the enchantment your own wand has called up"? The 
sequences of your own teachings are upon you. As for me, I 
start not back appalled when universal suffrage confronts me. 
"When the bloody ghost of slavery rises, I say, ' Shake your gory 
locks at me; I did it.' I accept the situation. I fight not against 
the logic of events or the decrees of Providence. I expected it, 
sir, and I meet it half way. I am for universal suffrage. I bid 
it 'All hail!' 'All hail!' 

" Four million people set free! What will protect them? The 
ballot. What alone will give us a peaceful and harmonious South? 
The ballot to all. What will quench the fires of discord, give us 
back all the States, a restored Union, and make us one people? 
The ballot, and that alone. Is there no other way ? Xone other 
under the sun. There is no other salvation. 

"The ballot will lead the freedman over the Red Sea of our 
troubles. It will be the brazen serpent, upon which he can look 
and live. It will be his pillar of cloud by day, and his pillar 
of fire by night. It will lead him to Pisgah's shining height, 
and across Jordan's stormy waves, to Canaan's fair and happy 
land. Sir, the ballot is the freedman 's Moses. So far as man is 
concerned, I might say that Mr. Lincoln was the Moses of the 
freedmen ; but whoever shall be the truest friend of human free- 
dom, whoever shall write his name highest upon the horizon of 
public vision as the friend of human liberty, that man — and I 
hope it may be the present President of the United States — will 
be the Joshua to lead the people into the land of deliverance/' 

Mr. Yates maintained that for the exercise of the right of 
suffrage there should be no test of intelligence, wealth, rank or 
race. To bring the people up to the proper standard, the ballot 
itself was " the greatest educator." He said : " Let a man have 
an interest in the Government, a voice as to the men and measures 



400 Tin: THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 

by which hi- taxes, his property, his life, and hi- reputation shall 
be determined, and there will be a stimulus to education for 

that man. 

" A- the elective franchise has been extended in this country, 
we have seen education become more universal. Look through- 
out all our Northern State- at our schools and coll. -. ir acad- 
emies of learning, our associations, the pulpit, the press, and the 
numerous agencies for the promotion of intelligence, all the inev- 
itable offspring of our free institutions. Here is the high train- 
in- which inspires the eloquence of the Senate, the wisdom of 
the cabinet, the address of the diplomatist, and which ha- di - 
veloped and brought to light that intelligent and energetic mind 
which has elevated the character and contributed to the prosper- 
ity of the country. It i- the ballot which is the stimulus to im- 
provement, which fires the heart of youthful ambition, which 
stimulates honorable aspiration, which penetrates the thick shades 
of the forest, and takes the poor rail-splitter by the hand and 
points him to the shining height of human achievement, or which 
into the log hut of the tailor hoy and opens to him the 
avenue of the presidential man-ion." 

Mr. Yates then declared his confidence in the triumph of the 
principle of universal suffrage: " It i- my conscientious conviction 
that if every Senator on this floor, and every Representative in 
the other House, and the President of the United State-, should, 
with united voice-, attempt to oppose this grand consummation 
of universal equality, they will fail. It is too late for that. You 
may go to the head-water- of tin' Mississippi and turn off the 
little rivulet-, luit you can not go to the mouth, after it has col- 
lected its waters from a thousand rivers, and with accumulated 
volume is pouring its foaming waters into the Gulf) mid -ay, 
'Thus far shalt thou go and no further.' 

"It i- too late to change the tide of human progress. The 
enlightened convictions of the masses, wrought by the thorough 
discussions of thirty year-, and consecrated by the baptism of 
precious blood, can not now he changed. The hand of a higher 
power than man's i- in this revolution, and it will not move 
backward. It i- of no use to tight against destiny. God, not 
man, created men equal. Deep laid in the solid foundations of 
God's eternal throne, the principle of equality is established, in- 
• ructihle and immortal. 



B, ISIS O F REPRESE. YT. I TTOJf. 401 

"Senators, sixty centuries of the past arc looking down upon 
you. All the centuries of the future are calling upon you. Lib- 
erty, struggling amid the rise and wrecks of empires in the past, 
and yet to struggle for life in all the nations of the world, con- 
jures you to seize this great opportunity which the providence of 
Almighty God has placed in your hands to bless the world and 
make your names immortal, to carry to full and triumphant con- 
summation the great work begun by your fathers, and thus lay 
permanently, solidly, and immovably, the cap-stone upon the 
pyramid of human liberty." 

On the 21st of February, the proposed amendment being again 
before the Senate, Mr. Buckalew, of Pennsylvania, delivered an 
elaborate speech in opposition to the measure. He had previously 
refrained from speech-making, supposing that " while the pas- 
sions of the country were inflamed by the war, reason could not be 
heard." He regretted that questions pertaining to the war still 
occupied the attention of Congress to the exclusion of those con- 
nected with economy, revenue, finance, ordinary legislation, and 
the administration of justice — questions which require intel- 
ligence, investigation, labor, and the habits of the student. As 
an argument against changing the basis of representation as it 
existed, Mr. Buckalew gave statistical details, showing the various 
ratios of representation in the Senate, as possessed respectively by 
the East, West and South. He maintained that New England 
had too great a preponderance of power in the Senate, both as to 
membership and the chairmanships of committees. " While," 
said he, " the population of the East is less than one-seventh of 
the population of the States represented in the Senate, she has 
the chairmanships of one-third of the committees. The chair- 
manship of a committee is a position of much influence and 
power. The several distinguished gentlemen holding that posi- 
tion have virtual control over the transaction of business, both 
in committee and in the Senate." 

Mr. Buckalew thus presented the effect of restoration of repre- 
sentation to the Southern States upon the relative position of 
New England: "Twenty-two Senators from the Southern States 
and two from Colorado — beino; double the number of those from 
the East — would reduce the importance of the latter in the Senate 
and remit her back to the condition in which she stood in her 
relations to the Union before the war. True, she would even 
26 



£0$ THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

then possess much more than her proportion of weight in the 
Senate, regard being had to her population, but she would no 
longer dominate or control the Government of the United States." 

Mr. Buckalew argued at some length thai representation should 
continue to be based upon population. He thought that the two- 
fifths added to the representative population in the South by the 
abolition of slavery would be counterbalanced by the mortality 
of the slave population since the outbreak of the war. He then 
presented the following objections to "any propositions of amend- 
ments at this time by Congress:" 

" 1. Eleven States an' unrepresented in the Senate and House. 
They are n<>t heard in debate which may affeel their interests and 
welfare in all future time. 

"2. Any amendment made at this time will he a partisan 
amendment. 

"3. The members of this Congress were not chosen with refer- 
ence to the subject of constitutional amendment. 

"4. Whatever amendments are now proposed by Congress are 
to be submitted to Legislatures, and not to popular conventions in 
the States; ami most of those Legislatures are to he the one- now 
in session. 

"5. In submitting amendments at this time, we invite a dis- 
pute upon the- ipiestion of the degree <>f legislative assent n< 
sary to their adoption. If ratified by the Legislatures of less than 
three-fourths of all the State-, their validity will he denied, and 
their enforcement resisted." 

Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, replied to Mr. Buckalew's im- 
putations against New England. "The Senator gave us to un- 
derstand that he had not wasted reason, thought, and culture upon 
the stormy passions engendered by the war, hut now, when reason 
had resumed her empire, lie had eoine forth to instruct his 
country. 

"The Senators from Xew England, unlike the Senator from 
Pennsylvania, remained not silent during the great civil war 
through which the nation has passed. They have spoken ; they 
have spoken for the unity of their country and the freedom of all 
men. They have spoken tor their country, their whole country, 
and for the rights of all its people of every race. Their past is 
secure, and the imputation^ of the Senator from Pennsylvania 
will pass harmless l.y them. 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 4".; 

"When the Constitution was formed, New England had eight 
of the twenty-six Senators — nearly one-third of the body; now 
she has twelve of the seventy -two Senators — one-sixth of the 
body. Her power is diminishing in this body and will continue 
to diminish. When the Constitution was adopted, quite as great 
inequalities existed among the States as now. The illustrious 
statesmen who framed the Constitution knew and recognized that 
fact; they based the Senate upon the States, and upon the equality 
of the States. They were so determined in that policy of equal 
State representation in the Senate that they provided that the 
Constitution should never be amended in that respect without the 
consent of every State. 

"The Senator suggests that the Senators from New England 
are actuated by local interests and love of power in their action 
regarding the admission of the Representatives of the rebel States. 
Nothing can be more unjust to those Senators. It is without the 
shadow of fairness or justice, or the semblance of truth. I can 
say before God that I am actuated by no local interests, no love 
of power, in opposing the immediate and unconditional admission 
of the rebel States into these chambers; and I know my associ- 
ates from New England too well to believe for a moment that 
they are actuated by interest or the love of power. Thousands 
of millions of money have been expended, and hundreds of thou- 
sands of brave men have bled for the unity and liberty of the 
republic. I desire — my associates from New England desire — to 
see these vacant chairs filled at an early day by the Representatives 
of the States that rebelled and rushed into civil war. We will 
welcome them here; but before they come it is of vital importance 
to the country, to the people of all sections, to the interests of all, 
that all disturbing questions should be forever adjusted, and so 
adjusted as never again to disturb the unity and peace of the 
country. It is now the time to settle forever all matters that can 
cause estrangement and sectional agitations and divisions in the 
future. Nothing should be left to bring dissensions, and, it may 
be, civil war again upon our country. The blood poured out to 
suppress the rebellion must not be shed in vain." 

Prominent Republican Senators bringing earnest opposition to 
bear against the proposed constitutional amendment, ami a senti- 
ment evidently gaining ground that it did not meet the require- 
ments of the case, caused its friends to urge it with less zeal than 



404 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRE& 

had at first characterized them. Meanwhile, other important 
propositions coming up from the Committee of Fifteen, which 
occupied the attention of the Senate, as detailed in a subsequent 
chapter, the subject of changing the basis of representation was 
allowed to lie over for nearly a fortnight. 

( )•• the : 'Mi of March, the subject being resumed, Mr. Pomeroy 
addressed the Senate. He feared that the nation was nol ready 
to adopt a constitutional amendmenl such as the nee 3siti< - of the 
country required. "This nation," said he, "although severely 
disciplined, has not yet reached the point of giving to all men 
their rights by a suffrage amendment : three-fourths of th< St 
arc not ready. And any patchwork, any 'step toward it' (as 
said the chairman of the committee) which does not reach it. \ 
fear to take, because but one opportunity will ever be afforded as 
to step at all ; and lost opportunities arc seldom repeated." 

Mr. Pomeroy did not think the case was without remedy, 
however, since " the last constitutional amendment embraced all, 
gave the most ample powers, even it' they did not exist before; 
for, after having secured the freedom of all men wherever the old 
flag floats, it provided that Congress might 'secure' the same by 
' appropriate legislation.' 

" What more could it have said? And who are better judges 
of appropriate legislation than the very men who first passed the 
amendment and provided for this very case".' 

"Sir, what is 'appropriate legislation' on the subject, namely, 
securing the freedom of all men? It can be nothing less than 
throwing about all men the essential safeguards of the Constitu- 
tion. The 'righl to hear arms' is not plainer taught or more 
efficient than the right to carry ballots. And if appropriate 
legislation will secure the one. so can it also the other. And if 
both are necessary, and provided for in the Constitution as now 
amended, why, then, let us close the question of congressional 
legislation. 

" Let u- not take counsel of our own tears, but of our hopes; 
not of our enemies, hut of our friends. By all the memories 
which cluster about the pathway in which we have been led; by 
all the sacrifices, suffering, blood, and tears of the conflict ; by all 
the hopes of a freed country and a disenthralled race; yea, as a 
legacy for mankind, let us now secure a tree representative re- 
public, based upon impartial suffrage and that human equality 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 405 

made clear in the Declaration of Independence. To this enter- 
tainment let us invite our countrymen and all nations, committing 
our work, when done, to the verdict of posterity and the blessing 
of Almighty God." 

On the day following, Mr. Saulsbury took the floor. His 
speech, ostensibly against the pending measure, was a palliation 
of the conduct of the Southern States, and a plea for their right 
of being admitted to representation in Congress. All that the 
Senator said directly upon the subject under discussion was con- 
tained in the following paragraph : 

" Now, suppose your constitutional amendment passes. If it 
passes, it ought to meet with the respect of some body. If this 
constitutional amendment shall be presented to the States who 
are now represented in Congress, and shall be adopted by simply 
three-fourths of those States, is there any body that will have the 
least respect for it ? Then suppose you could go with the bayonet — 
which I think now, under the brighter dawn of a better day 
which we begin to realize, you are not going to have the liberty 
to do — suppose you were to go with the bayonet and present it 
to the other eleven States, and they, acting under duress, not as 
free agents and as free men, cotdd get some people in their section 
so miserable and poor in spirit and craven in soul as to vote to 
adopt in their Legislatures such an amendment, would it com- 
mand the respect of any body in this land? Xot at all. Open 
your doors, sir; admit the Representatives of the Southern States 
to seats in this body; require no miserable degrading oath of 
them ; administer to them the very oath that you first took when 
you entered this body, and the only oath that the Constitution 
of the United States requires, and the only oatli which Congi.— 
has any right to exact, an oath to support the Constitution of the 
United State.- ; and then, if you think your Constitution is defect- 
ive, if you think it needs further amendment, or if you have not 
sufficiently exhausted your bowels of mercy and love and kind- 
ness toward your sable friends whose shadows darken this gallery 
every day, submit your amendments to the States represented in 
the Congress of the United States; and if they choose, acting 
freely as citizens of their States, to agree to your amendments, it 
will command the respect of themselves, but still it will Dot com- 
mand mine. I should despise a people who would voluntarily 
assume so degrading a position." 



Q6 THE rif(i;T)-.YI.\TII CONGRESS 

On the 7th of March, Mr. Sumner occupied the attention of 

the Senate for three hours, with a Be id speech in opposition to 

the proposed constitutional amendment. He used very strong 
language to express his abhorrence of the proposition: "It re- 
minds me of that leg of mutton served for dinner on the road 
from London to Oxford, which I>r. Johnson, with characteristic 
energy, described 'as bad as bad could be, ill-fed, ill-killed, ill- 
kept, and ill-dressed.' So this compromise — I adopt the sayii 
of an eminent friend, who insists that it ran nol 1"' called an 
'amendment,' but rather a 'detriment' to the Constitution— is as 
bad as bad can be; and even for its avowed purpose it is uncertain, 
loose, cracked, and rickety. Regarding it as a proposition from 
I .ngreas to meel the unparalleled exigencies of the present hour, 
it is no better than the 'muscular abortion' sent into the world 
by the 'parturient mountain.' But it is only when we look at 
the chance of good from it that this proposition is ' muscipular.' 
Regarding it in every other aspect it is infinite, inasmuch as it 
makes the Constitution a well-spring of insupportable thralldom, 
and once more lift- the sluices of blood destined to run until it 
(Mine-- t<» the horse's bridle. Adopt it. and you will put million- 
of fellow -citizens under the ban of excommunication j you will 
hand them over to a new anathema maranatha : you will declare 
that they have do political rights ' which white men are bound to 
respect,' thus repeating in a new form that abomination which 

is blackened tie- name of Taney. Adopt it. and you will stim- 
ulate anew the war of race upon race. Slavery it-elf wa- a war 
of race upon race, and this is only a new form of this terrible 
war. The proposition i- as hardy as it is gigantic; for it take- 
no account of the moral sense of mankind, which i- the same as 
if in rearing a monument we took no account of the law of grav- 
itation. It is the paragon ami master-piece of ingratitude, show- 
ing more than anv other act of history what i- so often charged 
and we so fondly deny, that republics arc ungrateful. The 
freedmen ask for bread, and you -end them a stone. With 
piteous voice they ask for protection. Von thrust them hack 
unprotected into the cniel den of their former masters. Such an 

tempt, thus had a- had can I.e. thu- abortive for all g 1. thus 

perilous, thu- pregnant with a war of race upon race, thus 
shocking to the moral 3ense, and thu- treacherous to those whom 
we are bound to protect, 'an not be otherwise than shameful. 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 407 

Adopt it, and you will cover the country with dishonor. Adopi 
it, and you will fix a stigma upon the very name of republic. 
As to the imagination, there are mountains of light, so are there 
mountains of darkness; and this is one of them. It is the very 
Koh-i-noor of blackness. Adopt this proposition, and you will 
be little better than the foul Harpies who defiled the feast that 
was spread. The Constitution is the feast spread for our country, 
and you are now hurrying to drop into its text a political ob- 
scenity, and to spread on its page a disgusting ordure, 

' ' Defiling all you find. 
And parting leave a loathsome stench behind.' ' 

Having presented his objections to the pending proposition, at 
great length, he summed them up as follows: "You have seen, 
first, how this proposition carries into the Constitution itself the 
idea of Inequality of Rights, thus defiling that unspotted text ; 
secondly, how it is an express sanction of the acknowledged 
tyranny of taxation without representation ; thirdly, how it is a 
concession to State Rights at a moment when we are recovering 
from a terrible war waged against us in the name of State Right-; 
fourthly, how it is the constitutional recognition of an oligarchy, 
aristocracy, caste, and monopoly founded on color ; fifthly, how it 
petrifies in the Constitution the wretched pretensions of a white 
man's government ; sixthly, how it assumes what is false in con- 
stitutional law, that color can be a ' qualification ' for an elector ; 
seventhly, how it positively ties the hands of Congress in fixing 
the meaning of a republican government, so that, under the guar- 
antee clause, it will be constrained to recognize an oligarchy, aris- 
tocracy, caste, and monopoly founded on color, together with the 
tyranny of taxation without representation, as not inconsistent with 
such a government; eighthly, how it positively ties the hands of 
Congress in completing and consummating the abolition of slavery 
according to the second clause of the constitutional amendment, 
so that it can not, for this purpose, interfere with the denial of 
the elective franchise on account of color; ninthly, how it in- 
stalls recent rebels in permanent power over loyal citizens; and, 
tenthly, how it shows forth, in unmistakable character, as a 
compromise of human rights, the most immoral, indecent, and 
utterly shameful of any in our history. All this you have seen, 
with pain and sorrow, I trust. Who that is moved to sympathy 



408 THE Tlfli;T)--M.YTII CONGRESS. 

for his fellow-man <an listen to the story without indignation? 
Who thai has not lost the power * »±" reason can fail to see the 

cruel wrung?" 

Mr. Doolittle mentioned -"me foots which he thought would 
prove tlir apprehension of an increase of the basis of represen- 
tation in the South to be without foundation. "The destruc- 
tion of the population/' said he, "both white and black, during 
the civil war, has been most enormous. Of the white popula- 
tion, there were in those State- in I860, of white males over 
twenty years <>f age, about one million six hundred thousand. 
Nearly one-third of that white population over twenty year- of 
age has perished. The actual destruction of the black popula- 
tion since I860 has been at least twenty-live per cent, of the 
whole population. The population of the South has been so 
destroyed and wasted and enfeebled in consequence of this war, 
that I do not for one, I confess, feel those apprehensions which 
some entertain that, if they are admitted to representation under 
the Constitution just as it stands, they will have any increase 
of Representatives. My opinion is, that after the next census 
their representation will be diminished unless emigration from 
the North or from Europe shall till up their population and 
increase it so as to entitle it to an increased representation." 

Mr. Doolittle argued that the amendment was capable of being 
evaded by a State disposed to disfranchise colored men: "I do 
not see," said he, '-that there is any thing in the resolution which 
would prevent Smith Carolina or any other State from passing a 
law that any person who was horn free, or whose ancestors were 
free, should exercise the elective franchise, and none others. That 

would exclude the whole of the colored population, and yet would 

leave the State to have its full representation. There i- nothing 
which would prevent the State of South Carolina or any other 
State from saying that only those persons who had served in the 
military service, and their descendants, should exercise the elective 
franchise. That would exclude the colored population, and the 
Union population, ton. if they refused to serve in the army." 

Mr. Doolittle closed hi- remarks by advocating an amendment 
basing representation upon actual voters under State law-. 

Mr. Morrill, of Maine, addressed the Senate in support of 
the proposition to amend the Constitution. lie said: "Some 
amendment is rendered absolutely necessary, unless the American 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 409 

Constitution is to give to the nation the expression of utterly 
contradictory sentiments, saying involuntary servitude no longer 
exists, in one portion of it; in another, bearing on its front in 
marked contrast, that three-fifths only of the 'other persons' are 
to still constitute the basis of representation." 

He recalled a time not far remote when amendments of the 
Constitution were adopted by those who now oppose any alter- 
ation of the fundamental law: "I do not forget," said he, "that 
within the last five years a class of statesmen and politicians, 
who now resist all propositions for an amendment of the Con- 
stitution, here and elsewhere urged and demanded amendments 
of the Constitution of the nation. What Avere the circumstances 
then? Several States threatened to dissolve this Union; several 
States had taken an attitude hostile to the Government of the 
country. They demanded the extension, the protection, and the 
perpetuation of slavery; and upon that question the country 
was divided. Then amendments to the Constitution were pro- 
posed without number here, elsewhere, and every-where. Amend- 
ments to the Constitution seemed to be the order of the day. To 
what end, and for what purpose? To increase the power in the 
hands of the few who wielded the political power in those States, 
and who were demanding it. 

Referring to an argument . presented by the Senator from 
Wisconsin, Mr. Morrill remarked : " But yesterday we had an 
additional reason given why this amendment should not be 
adopted; and that was that it was wholly unnecessary, because, 
it was said, by the events which were transpiring in the coun- 
try in regard to the recent slave population, there need be no 
apprehension of excess of representation based on the whole 
'numbers' instead of three-fifths, from the important fact that 
they were passing away. If I gather the force of that argument, 
it is this: we are to base no legislation and no action upon the 
idea that this race, recently slave, now free, is part and parcel 
of the American people, the objecl of our care, solicitude, and 
protection. They are passing away — dying; let them be repre- 
sented as slaves now, and let them never enter into the basis 
hereafter of the representative system. Sir, that is the old 
argument — an argument worthy of another period than this. 
Our people have been an inexorable people, in some respects, in 
regard to the races that have been within their power. In the 



4-10 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

march of our civilization across the continent, the iron heel of 
that civilization has rested upon the Indian, and he is passing 
away. We seem to contemplate the probable extinction of the 
Indians from our limits with composure. He is a nomad; he 
is a savage; 1m- is a barbarian; lie is uol within our morals or 
our code of law; lie i- nol withiu the pale of the Constitution, 
but Hit- upon the verge of it. outside our protection, the subject 
of our caprices, and sometimes, I think, of our avarice. And, 
now, if any consequence is t<> lie attached to the remark of the 
honorable Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. Doolittle] yesterday, this 
'inferior race' is not to he the subject of our solicitude. They, 
too, are passing away; it is not worth while to change your 
Constitution in regard to them. Let them he represented a- two- 
fifths slaves on the old basis until they shall have perished, and 
then your Constitution will need no amendment. The law- of 
a fearful antagonism of superior ami inferior races are expected 
to accomplish what, if American statesmanship does noi incite, 
it contemplates with apparent satisfaction." 

Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, profoundly regretted to see in- 
dications that the amendment was doomed to defeat. He said: 
"My heart, my conscience, and my judgment approve of this 
amendment, and I support it without qualification or reservation. 
I approve of the purpose for which it is introduced. ] approve 
it because I believe it would sweep the loyal States by an im- 
mense majority; that no public man could stand before the people 
of the loyal State- in opposition to it, or oppose it with any force 
whatever. I approve it because I believe if it were put in the 
Constitution every black man in America, before live year- could 
pass, would he enfranchised and weaponed with the ballol fa- the 
protection of life, liberty, and property." 

Referring to the opposition brought to hear against the measure 
by hi- colleague, Mr. Wilson said: " We arc also told that it is 
immoral and indecent, an offense to reason and to conscience. 
Sir, this measure came into Congress with the .-auction of the 
Committee on Reconstruction, composed :>- it is of men "1" indi- 
vidual honor and personal character, and as true to the cau-e of 
tin. colored race a- any other men here ^v elsewhere. It comes 
to the Smate by an overwhelming vote of the House of Repre- 
sentatives. It i- sustained by ninety-nine out of every hundred 
of the public journal- that brought the present Administration 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 411 

into power, and wore it submitted to the American people, it 
would, I am quite sure, be sustained by men in the loyal States 
who believe that the soldier who fought the battles of the re- 
public is the equal of the traitor who fought against the country. 
I see no compromise in it, no surrender in it, no defilement of 
the Constitution in it, no implication that can be drawn from it 
against the rights or interests of the colored race. On the con- 
trary, I believe the black men, from the Potomac to the Rio 
Grande, would go for it and rejoice to see it adopted." 

Mr. Wilson described the results that would follow the adop- 
tion of this amendment. "Being incorporated in the Constitu- 
tion, the practical effect would be this, and only this: it would 
raise up a party in every one of these States immediately in favor 
of the enfranchisement of the colored race. That party might 
be animated and influenced by the love of power, by pride, and 
by ambition. These men might begin the contest, for they would 
not like to yield the power of their States in Congress; they 
might begin the battle animated by no high and lofty motives; 
but as soon as the discussion commenced, it would address itself 
to the reason, to the heart, and to the conscience of the people. 
The advocates of negro enfranchisement would themselves speed- 
ily grow up to believe in the justice, equity, and right of giving 
the ballot to the black men. There would be discussion on every 
square mile of the rebel States. Appeals would be made to their 
pride, to their ambition, to their justice, to their love of fair play, 
to their equity; all the interests and passions, and all the loftier 
motives that can sway, control, and influence men, would impel 
them to action. They would cooperate with the friends of free- 
dom throughout the country; would seek their counsel and aid. 
They would be the left wing of the great army of freedom, of 
elevation, and improvement in the country. We would give them 
our influence, our voices, and our aid in fighting the battle of 
enfranchisement. They would have the support and the prayers 
of the poor black men of the South; and before five years had 
passed away, there would not be a rebel State that did not en- 
franchise the bondman." 

Referring to the policy of "enlightened Christian States," in 
refusing the right <>f suffrage to the negro, Mr. Wilson said: 
"After all the fidelity and heroic conduct of these men, prejudice, 
party spirit, and conservatism, and all that is base and mean on 



r U TIIETHIETY-.YLYTli CONGREL 



T 



earth, combine to tiny the right of suffrage to the brave soldier 
of the republic. God alone can forgive such meanness; humanity 
can uot. Alter what has taken place, i- taking place, I can not 
hope that the constitutional amendment proposed by the Senator 
from Missouri will receive a majority of three-fourths of the \ 
of the States. I, therefore, can uot risk the cause of an emanci- 
pated rare upon it. In the present condition of the nation we 
musl aim at practical results, not to establish political theories, 
however beautiful and alluring they may be." 

It was the understanding of the Senate that the discussion 
would close and the vote would be taken on the 9th of March. 
On that day Mr. Fessenden took the floor in reply to objections 
urged by those who had previously spoken. In reply to the ob- 
jection that the advocate- of this measure were wrong in attempting 
to accomplish by indirection that which they could not accomplish 
directly, Mr. Fessenden said: "If negro suffrage can be secured 
by the indirect action of an amendment of the Constitution which 
appeals to the interest of those who have hitherto been and who 
arc yet probably the ruling class among whom this large popula- 
tion i:- situated, and with whom they live, it will be far b 
than to run the risk of all the difficulties that might arise from 
a forcible imposition, which would create ill-feeling, generate dis- 
cord, and produce, perhaps undying animosities." 

To the objection urged by Mr. Hendricks, that it was intended 
for a party purpose, Mr. Fessenden replied: " Has he any right 
to attack the motives of those who support it'.' Must it nee, -- - 
rily be attended with benefit to a particular party? It so, it is 
necessarily attended with injury to another party, of which the 
honorable Senator is a prominent member; and it would as well 
become me to say that his opposition to it is for party purp 
and for party objects as it became him to say that it- introduction 
and its support were intended for party purposes. It is well 
known here and out of this Senate that the honorable Senator 
from Indiana is a gentleman who never, in any of hi- addi 

here, says any thing that is in the slightest degree calculated to 
effeel a party purpose, and ha- SO little of that party feeling 
which presses itself upon other men a- to be hardly suspected of 
being a party man at all." [ Laughter.] 

Mr. Fessenden thus replied to the objections of two opponents 
of the measure: "The Senator [Mr. Hendricks] objected to this 



B, ISIS OF F E I ' U ES E. \ ' T. I HON. 4 13 

measure upon another ground, and that was, that in one sense it 
was intended as a punishment, and that was wrong; and in an- 
other sense it was what lie called a bribe, a reward, and that was 
wrong. If he considers it a punishment, he differs very much 
from his leading associate on this question, the honorable Senator 
from Massachusetts, [Mr. Sumner,] for he does not consider it a 
punishment at all. The Senator from Massachusetts says there 
is nothing punitive in it. On the contrary, it is a reward to these 
States; it is conferring power upon them; it is strengthening 
power in the hands of the whites of the South, and only oppress- 
ing the colored race. Behold how doctors disagree ! They ope- 
rate upon the same patient, and are operating at the same time, 
with different remedies and in different directions. 

" Suppose it is a punishment, and suppose it is a bribe, a re- 
ward; it does not differ very much from the principle upon which 
all criminal legislation is founded, to say the least of it. We 
punish men when they do wrong. I never heard that it was an 
objection to legislation that it punished those who perpetrate a 
wrong. I never heard that it was an objection to legislation that 
it held out rewards to those who did right." 

Referring to Mr. Buckalew's argument, Mr. Fessenden re- 
marked : " Eight out of sixteen pages of his speech were devoted 
to abuse of New England, and to showing that New England had 
too much power, and that it ought to be abridged in some way. 
" He closed those remarks by saying (for which I was very much 
obliged to him) that he did not despise New England. We are 
happy to know it. I will say to him that New England does 
not despise him that I am aware of. [Laughter.] I am not 
aware that it is really affected in any degree by the elaborate at- 
tack of eight pages which he delivered against New England on 
that occasion, and which he thought were views so important that 
he could not be justified if he failed to give them utterance." 

Of Mr. Sumner's part in the debate, Mr. Fessenden said: "On 
this subject I think he has occupied about eight or nine hours of 
the time of the Senate, and on the last occasion, w r hile saving that 
principles were to be considered, he has undertaken to designate 
the character of this proposed amendment. I have already stated 
who the men were who were in favor of it. What does the Sen- 
ator call it? I have chosen a few, and but a few, flowers of 
rhetoric from the speech of the honorable Senator : ' Compromise 



4H THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

of human rights,' 'violating the national faith,' 'dishonoring the 
name of there public,' 'bad mutton,' ' new muscipular abortion,' 
'a new anathema maranatha,' 'abomination,' 'paragon and mas- 
terpiece of ingratitude,' 'abortive for all good,' 'shocking to the 
moral sense,' 'the very Koh-i-noor of blackness,' 'essential un- 
cleanliness,' ' disgusting ordure,' 'loathsome stench;' and the men 
who supporl it, if they pass it, will 1"' ' Harpies,' ' Pontius Pilate, 
with Judas Iscariot on his back.' 

"The Senator from Massachusetts make- several points against 
this proposition, to which my answer is the same. His first point 
is, that it recognizes ' the idea of inequality of rights founded on 
race or color.' I deny in toto the correctness, or even the plausi- 
bility, to a man of sense, any point that he has raised on the 
subject. There is not one of them that is tenable; and more 
than that, there is not one of them but what is jusl as tenable 
against the proposition he is in favor of to found representation 
on voters a< this. What lawyer in the world ever heard that a 
denial i- an admission? What lawyer ever heard that a penalty 
is a permission? By this proposition, wo say -imply this: 'If, 
in the exercise of the power that you have under the Constitu- 
tion, you make an inequality of rights, then you are to suffer 
such and such consequences.' What sane man could ever pretend 
that that was saying, ' Make an inequality of' rights and we will 
sanction it?' We do not deny — nobody can deny — that the power 
may he thus exercised. What we say by this amendment is, 'If 
you attempt to exercise it in this wrongful way, you create an 
inequality of rights; and if you do create an inequality of rights' 
— not we, hut you — 'if you undertake to do it under the power 
which exists in the Constitution, then the consequence follows 
that you are punished by a loss of representation.' That is all 
that is in it." 

Having replied to the most of Mr. Sumner's objections in 
order, Mr. Pessenden said: "The last point of the Senator is, 
that thi- proposition is 'a compromise of human rights, the most 
immoral, indecent, and utterly shameful in our history.' 

"Mr. President, 1 stand rebuked, bui 1 do not feel so had as 
I might. The Committee of Fifteen, the friends and associates 

of the honorable Senator, -land relinked. More than two-thirds 

<>f the House of Representatives and a large majority of this 

body, all the political friends and associates of the Senator, stand 



BASIS OF REPRESEXTATION. 415 

charged with proposing a compromise of human rights the most 
immoral, indecent, and shameful in our history! All I can say 
with regard to that is, that neither on its face, in its effect, 
nor in its intention is it any compromise. None such was 
dreamed of." 

Mr. Fessenden thus described the remarkable combination of 
Senators opposing the amendment : " I can not close, however, 
without saying how amusing seems to me the character of the 
opposition to this joint resolution. That opposition is composed 
of men of all shades of opinion. The Democrats on the other 
side of the House oppose it because they say it is unjust to the 
Southern States ; my honorable friends who have been some time 
with us are opposed to it because — I do not know why, except 
that the President is opposed to it, and I believe that is the 
ground ; my honorable friend from Massachusetts objects because 
it is unjust to the negro. Why, sir, just imagine all the gen- 
tlemen opposed to this resolution met in caucus together, and 
looking around at each other, would there not be a smile on all 
their faces to see what company they had fallen into? I think 
Senators would be surprised to find themselves there, and, like 
the countryman looking at the reel in the bottle, they would 
consider how the devil they did get there. [Laughter.] It 
would be a very strange meeting; and yet they are all against 
this proposition." 

After a running debate between several Senators, the vote 
was taken upon the substitute proposed by Mr. Henderson as 
a constitutional amendment, viz. : " Xo State, in prescribing the 
qualifications requisite for electors therein, shall discriminate 
against any person on account of color or race." The amendment 
was lost — yeas, 10 ; nays, 37. The question was then taken on 
Mr. Sumner's substitute, which was simply a joint resolution 
providing ' there shall be no oligarchy, aristocracy, caste, or 
monopoly invested with peculiar privileges, and no denial of 
rights, civil or political, on account of color or race, anywhere 
within the United States." This resolution was lost — yeas, 8; 
nays, 39. The vote was then taken on the amendment proposed 
by Mr. Yates, providing that no State shall make or enforce any 
distinction between citizens of the United States on account of 
race or color, and that all citizens shall hereafter be protected in 
the exercise of all civil and political rights, including the right 



416 THE TlllUT\--\l\TH CONGRESS. 

of suffrage. This amendment was lost — yea-. 7; nays, 38. The 
vote was then talon upon the original amendment as reported by 
the joint Committee of Fifteen. The following was the result: 

Yeas — Messrs Anthony, Chandler, Clark. Conness, Cragin, Creswell, I - 
senden, Poster, Grimes, Harris, Howe, Kirkw 1. Lane of Indiana, McDon- 
ald. Morgan, Morrill, Nye, Poland, Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, Trumbull, 
Wade, William-, and Wilson — 25, 

Nays — Messrs Brown, Buckalew, Cowan, Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, Guthrie, 
Henderson, Hendricks, Johnson, Lam- of Kansas, Nesmith, Norton, Pomeroy, 
Riddle, Saulshury, Stewart, Stockton, Snmner, Van Winkle. Willey, and 
Yates— 22. 

Absent — Messrs. Foot, Howard, and Wright — 3. 

Two thirds of the Senator- not having voted for the joint 
resolution, it was lost. The defeat of the proposed constitutional 
amendment was accomplished by the combination of five " Rad- 
ical" Senators with six "Conservatives," elected as Republicans, 
whose vote, added to the regular Democratic strength, prevented 
its adoption by the required constitutional majority of two-thirds. 

The advocates of constitutional reform, though foiled in this 
attempt, were not disheartened. Their defeat taught them the 
important Lesson that pet measures and favorite theories must he 
abandoned or modified in order to secure the adoption of some 
constitutional amendment to obviate difficulties of which all felt 
and acknowledged the existence. 

Meanwhile other measures, designed to lead to the great end of 
reconstruction, were demanding and receiving the consideration 
of Congress. 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 417 



CHAPTER XVI. 

REPRESENTATION OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 

Concurrent Resolution — A "Venomous Fight" — Passage in the House — 
The Resolution in the Senate — "A Political Wrangle" Deprecated — 
Importance of the Question — "A Straw in a Storm" — Policy of the 
President — Conversation between two Senators — Mr. Nye's Advice 
to Rebels—" A Dangerous Power "— " Was Mr. Wade once a Seces- 
sionist?" — Garrett Davis' Programme for the President — "Useless 
yet Mischievous" — The Great Question Settled. 

IT was understood when the Committee of Fifteen introduced 
the joint resolution proposing a constitutional amendment 
relating to the basis of representation, that this was only one 
of a series of measures which they thought essential to the work 
of reconstruction, and which they designed to propose at a p roper 
time. 

In pursuance of this plan, on the 20th of February, the day 
after the veto of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, and while the 
amendment of the basis of reconstruction was pending in the 
Senate, Mr. Stevens brought before the House, from the Com- 
mittee of Fifteen, a " Concurrent Resolution concerning: the Insur- 
rectionary States," as follows: 

"Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, (the Senate concurring,) 
That in order to close agitation upon a question which seems likely to dis- 
turb the action of the Government, as well as to quiet the uncertainty 
which is agitating the minds of the people of the eleven States which have 
been declared to be in insurrection, no Senator or Representative shall be 
admitted into either branch of Congress from any of said States until Con- 
gress shall have declared such State entitled to such representation." 

After the reading of this resolution, Mr. Grider, of Kentucky, 
a member of the Committee of Fifteen, offered the following 
minority report : 
27 



418 the mi irry-M.y tii congre& 

"The minority of the Committee on Reconstruction, on the part of the 
House, beg leave to report that — : t i < 1 committee have directed an inquiry to 
be made as to the condition and loyalty of tin- State of r J -e. There 

has 1 n a large amount of evidence taken, some part of it conducing to 

iw that at Borne locality - onally there ha 1 some irregularities 

and temporary disaffection ; yet the main direction and weight of the testi- 
iii. >ji \ are ample and conclusive to Bhow that the great body of the people 
in said Star^ are not only loyal and willing, but anxious, to have and main- 
tain amicable, sincere, and patriotic relations with the General Govern- 
ment Such being the state of the fact6, and inasmuch as under the cei 
of I860 Congress passed a law which was approved in 1863, using the ratio 
and apportioning to Tennessee and all the other States representation; and 
inasmuch as Tennessee, disavowing insurrectionary pur] - disloyalty, 

has, under the laws and organic law of said State, regularly elected her 
members and Senators to the Congress of the United States, in conformity 
tu the laws and Constitution of the United States, and said members are 
here asking admission; and inasmuch as the House by the Constitution is 
the 'judge of the election, returns, and qualification of its members,' con- 
sidering these facts and principles, we offer the follov • ilution, to-wit: 

"Resolved, That the State of Tennessee is entitled to representation in the 
Thirty-ninth Congress, and the Representatives elected from and by said 
>tate are hereby admitted to take their seats therein upon being qualified 
by oath according to law." 

Mr. Stevens then said: "Having heard an ingenious speech 
upon that side of the question, and not intending to make any 
speech upon this side, as I hope our friends all understand a 
question which has agitated not this body only, hut other por- 
tions of the community, I propose t<> ask for the question. I 
think I may say without impropriety, that until yesterday there 
was an earnest investigation int<> the condition ,»t' Tennessee, to 
whether by act of Congress we could admit that State to a 
condition id' representation here, ami admit it- members to seats 
here; hut since yesterday there has arisen a state of things which 
the committee deem puts it out of their power to proceed further 
without surrendering a great principle; without the loss of all 
their dignity ; without surrendering the rights of this body to the 
usurpation of another power. I call the previous question." 

Strenuous efforts were made by the Democratic minority to de- 
feat the proposed joint resolution by means of " dilatory motion-." 
Repeated motions were made to adjourn, to excuse certain mem- 
bers from voting, and to call the House, on all of which the y. - 
and nays were called. This "parliamentary tactics" consumed 
many hour-. The minority seemed resolved to make the pas- 



B. ISIS OF REPR ES /:. \ ' T. 1 TTOjY. 4 19 

sage of the resolution a question of physical endurance. In reply 
to a proposition of Mr. Eldridge, of the minority, that they 
would allow business to proceed if debute should be allowed, Mr. 
Stevens said : " It is simply the return of the rebels of 1 861. I sat 
thirty-eight hours under this kind of a fight once, and 1 have no 
objections to a little of it now. I am ready to sit for forty hours." 

Late in the evening, a member of the minority proposed thai 
the House should take a recess for an hour, that the door-keeper 
might have the hall fitted up as a dormitory. From indications, 
lie thought such accommodations would be necessary. At length, 
Mr. Eldridge said : " We know our weakness and the strength 
and power of the numbers of the majority. We have not had 
the assistance which we expected from the other side of the 
House in our effort to obtain the privilege of debating the reso- 
lution. We know perfectly well that it has become a question 
of physical endurance. We know perfectly well that we can not 
stand out against the overpowering majority of this House any 
great length of time. We know if the majority will it, the reso- 
lution will pass without debate. We have done all we could. 
We therefore yield to that power, and throw die responsibility 
of this most extraordinary, this most revolutionary measure, upon 
the majority of the House." 

To this Mr. Stevens answered : " The gentlemen accept their 
situation just as Jeff. Davis did his — because they can not help 
it. [Laughter.] I confess, sir, for so small a number, they have 
made a most venomous fight." 

The vote was then taken upon the concurrent resolution, which 
passed the House — yeas, 109; nays, 40. 

The hopes which had arisen in the minds of the minority that 
a considerable number of Republicans would permanently sep- 
arate themselves from the party that elected them, and adhere to 
the policy and fortunes of the President, were disappointed. The 
imprudence of the President himself, in making his unfortunate 
speech of the 22d of February, tended to unite the Republicans 
in Congress against his policy, and render fruitless the efforts of 
his new Democratic friends in his favor. 

On the 23d of February, Mr. Fessenden proposed that the 
pending constitutional amendment should give way, to enable the 
Senate to consider the concurrent resolution passed by the House 
concerning the representation of the Southern States. 



420 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 

Mr. Sherman thought it would be better and wiser to allow 
this matter to lie over far a few days. He though! it best not to 
press this "declaration of political opinion" while the public 
mind and Senators themselves were more or less affected by sur- 
rounding circumstances. " I think/' said he, "that we ought uot 
to postpone :ill the important business now pending in Congress 
for the purpose of getting into a political wrangle with the 
President." 

Mr. Fessenden replied: "The Senator from Ohio says we are 
getting up a political wrangle with the President of the United 
States. Winn the President of the United States tells Congn-- 
that it is transcending its proper limits of authority, that it has 
nothing to do in the way of judgment upon the great question of 
reconstructing the rebel States, and Congress assumes to express 
it- own sense upon that question, I think it is hardly a proper term 
to apply to such a state of things. I am not aware that there 
has been any effort anywhere to get up a political wrangle or 
engage in a political wrangle with the President. Certainly I 
have not. Xo man has ever heard me -peak of him except in 
terms of respect, in my place here and elsewhere. 

"I am not sensible myself of any excitement that would pre- 
vent my speaking upon this question precisely in the style which 
I deem it deserves. I am not carried away by passion. 1 have 
reflected, and I am ready to express my opinion upon the great 
question at issue; and the Senator will allow me to say that, in 
my judgment, the sooner the judgment of Congress is expressed, 
the better. 

" He talks about important business to he done by this Con- 
gress. Sir, is there any thing more important than to settle the 
question whether the Senate and the House of Representative-, 
of the United State- have or have not something to say in rela- 
tion to the condition of the late Confederate State-, and whether 

it i- proper to admit Senators and Representatives from them'.' 
It' the President i- right in his assumption — for the assumption is 
a very clear on« — that we have nothing to -ay, we ought to admit 
these men at once, it' they come here with proj>er credentials, and 
not keep them waiting outside the door." 

Mr. Sherman -aid: " In my judgment, the event- that trans- 
pired yesterday are too fresh in the mind of every Senator not 
to have had some influence upon him, and I think it as well 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. .; 21 

to allow the influence of those events to pass away. I do not 
wish now myself, nor do I wish any Senator here, to reply to 
what was said yesterday by the President of the United States. 
I would prefer that the Senate of the United States, the only 
legislative body which can deliberate fully and freely without any 
limitation on the right of debate, should deliberate, reflect, and 
act calmly after the excitement of the events of the last two or 
three days has passed off." 

Mr. Howe, of Wisconsin, remarked: "If there be passion and 
excitement in the country at this present time, I do n<»t hold my- 
self as an individual responsible for any share of it; and I am 
here to say that if I know myself — and if I do not know myself 
nobody about me knows me — I am as competent to consider this 
particular question to-day as I was the day before yesterday or 
last week, and, so far as my judgment informs me, quite as com- 
petent to consider it as I expect to be next week or the week 
after. And when the Senator from Ohio asks me to vote against 
proceeding to the consideration of any measure, either because I 
distrust my own fitness to consider it, or distrust the fitness of 
my associates about me, I must respectfully decline, not because I 
care particularly whether we take up this measure to-day or an- 
other day, but because I ask the Senate to vindicate their own 
course as individual men, and to say that they are not to be swept 
from the seat of judgment by what is said, or can be said, by the 
first magistrate of the nation, or by the lowest and the last mag- 
istrate of the nation." 

The Senate, by a vote of 26 to 19, agreed to proceed to consider 
the concurrent resolution proposed by the Committee of Fifteen, 
which had already passed the House of Representatives. 

Mr. Fessenden advocated the resolution in a speech of consid- 
erable length. He presented extracts from the President's speech 
of the day before, in which he had arrayed himself against the 
right of Congress to decide whether a rebel State is in condition 
to be represented. 

Mr. Fessenden considered the pending resolution as "transcend- 
ing in importance the question of the amendment of the Consti- 
tution, which had been under discussion for several days." He 
deemed the resolution necessary now, "in order that Congress 
may assert distinctly its own rights and its own powers; in order 
that there may be no mistake anywhere, in the mind of the Ex- 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 

ecutive or in the minds of the people of this country ; that Con- 
gress, under tin- circumstances of this case, with tlii- attempted 
limitation of it- powers with regard t<» it- own organization, is 
prepared to say to the Executive and to the country, respectfully 
but firmly, over this subject they have, and they mean to i ser- 
ci» . the most full and plenary jurisdiction. We will judge tor 
ourselves, not only upon credentials and the character of men and 
the position of nun. but upon the position of the State- which 
sent those men here. In other words, to use the language of the 
Presidenl again, when the question is to be decided, whether they 
obey the Constitution, whether they have a fitting constitution of 
their own, whether they are loyal, whether they are prepared to 
obey the laws as a preliminary, as the President says it is, to 
their admission, we will say whether those preliminary require- 
ments have been complied with, and not he, and nobody but 
ourselves." 

Mr. Pessenden made an extended argument on the subject of 
reconstruction, affirming that while the people of the rebel States 
had not passed from under the jurisdiction of the I nited States 
Government, yet having no existence as States with rights in the 
Union and rights to representation in Congress. " My judgment 
is," s:iid he, " thai we hold the power ever the whole subject in 
our hands, that it i- our duty to hold it in our hands, and to 
]•■ • ard it as a matter of the most intense interest to the whole 
people, involving the good of the whole people, calling for our 
most careful consideration, and to be adjudged without passion, 
without temper, without any of that feeling which may be sup- 
posed to have arisen out of the unexampled state of things 
through which we have passed." 

< >n the 26th of February, Mr. Sherman addressed the Senate 
on the pending concurrent resolution. He approved the princi- 
ple but doubted the expediency of now reaffirming it. " I regard 
it." said he, "as a mere straw in a storm, thrown in at an inop- 
portune moment ; the mere assertion of a naked right which has 
never yet been disputed, and never can be successfully j a mere 

• Tiion of a right that we have over and over again asserted. 
My idea is that the true way to assert this power is to exercise it, 
and that it was only necessary for Congress to exercise that power 
in order to meet all these complicated difficulties." 

Mr. Sherman regarded the President's speech as humiliating 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. .' r 23 

and unworthy of his high office, A part of the speech he char- 
acterized as "the product of resentment, hatched by anger and 
passion, and hurled, without reflection, at those he believed 
wished to badger and insult him." 

Mr. Sherman favored the prompt restoration of Tennessee. 
"I think our first duty," said he, " is at once to prepare a mode 
and manner by which she may be admitted into the Union upon 
such terms and conditions as will make her way back the way of 
pleasantness and peace." 

Of the general question of reconstruction he said: "If I had 
any power in arranging a plan, I would mark the line as broad 
and deep between the loyal people who stood at our side and the 
rebels who fought against us as between heaven and hell." 

"How can you do it?" asked Mr. Howard. 

" Whenever loyal men," replied Mr. Sherman, " present a State 
organization, complying with such terms and conditions and tests 
of loyalty as you may prescribe, and will send here loyal Repre- 
sentatives, I would admit them ; and whenever rebels send or 
come here, I would reject them." 

" I fear the storm," said Mr. Sherman, near the conclusion of 
his speech. "I fear struggles and contentions in these eleven 
States, unless there is some mode by which the local power of 
those States may be put in loyal hands, and by which their voices 
may be heard here in council ami in command, in deliberation 
and debate, as of old. They will come back here shorn of their 
undue political power, humbled in their pride, with a conscious- 
ness that one man bred under free institutions i- as good, at least, 
as a man bred under slave institutions. I want to see the loyal 
people in the South, if they are few. trusted; if they arc many, 
give them power. Prescribe your conditions, but let them come 
back into the Union upon such terms as you may prescribe. 
Open the door for them. I hope we may see harmony restored 
in this great Union of ours; that all these States and all these 
Territories may be here in council for the common good, and that 
at as speedy a moment as is consistent with the public safety." 

Mi-. Dixon addressed the Senate in opposition to the concurrent 
resolution, and in favor of the policy of the President. " Ii is 
my belief," said he, "that what is known as the policy of the 
President for the restoration of the late seceded States in this 
Government is the correct policy. I believe it is the only safe 



4H TIIE THIRTY-Js'l.XTll CON&RESS. 

policy/' Having been requested to state that policy, Mr. Dixon 
said : " It contemplates a careful, cautious, discriminating admission 
of a loyal representation from loyal States and districts in the 
appropriate House of Congress, by the separate action of each, 
every case to be considered by itself and decided on its own merits. 
It recognizes the right of every loyal State and district to be repre- 
sented by loyal men in Congress. It draw- the true line of dis- 
tinction between traitors and true men. It furnishes to the State- 
lately in rebellion the strongest possible inducement to loyalty and 
fidelity to the Government. It ' makes treason odious/ by show- 
ing that while the traitor and the rebel are excluded from Con- 
gress, the loyal and the faithful are cordially received. It recog- 
nizes and rewards loyalty wherever it is found, and distinguishes, 
as it ought, between a Horace Maynard and a Jefferson Davis." 

Of the purpose expressed in this resolution to " close agitation," 
Mi. Dixon said: "The vast business interests of this country are 
eagerly intent on this question. The people of this country are 
mutually attracted, the North and the South, and they must sooner 
or later act together. Whatever Congress may do, this question 
will not cease to be agitated. Adjourn, if you see tit. without 
settling tin- question j leave it as it is; admit no member from 
Tennessee; and when you go through the States next fall which 
hold their election- for < ! ongr< ss, -• whether agitation has ceased. 
Sir, a word of caution may not be unfit on that subject." 

Mr. Dixon maintained that the Senate would surrender its in- 
dependence by resolving that Senators should not be admitted 
from rebel State- until Congress should have declared them en- 
titled to such representation. "Upon the question of credentials," 
-lid he, •• this whole question is before the Senate: and it is for 
ii- to consider on that question whether the member presenting 
himself here for admission is a traitor or whether he is true to 
his country." 

"Suppose/' said Mr. Trumbull, "that in a time of peace the 
Legislature of Tennessee is disloyal, and swears allegiance to the 
Emperor Maximilian, does the Senator deny the authority of 
Congress to inquire into the character of that Legislature?" 

" 1 do," replied Mr. Dixon. •• It is for the Senate, and not for 
' in i js, to make the inquiry if a Senator from Tennessee in the 
supposed case presents bimseli 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 425 

Mr. Trumbull said : " He denies the authority of Congress to 
decide whether the constituency is traitorous or loyal!" 

" That is another point," said Mr. Dixon. 

" That is the very one I put," said Mr. Trumbull. " If all 
the members of the Legislature of Tennessee swear allegiance to 
the Emperor Maximilian, and send a Senator here, I want to 
know if Congress has a right to inquire into the character of 
that Legislature ? " 

" I will answer that by asking another question," said Mr. 
Dixon. "Suppose that was the case, that the Emperor Maxi- 
milian had entire control of the State of Tennessee, and a person 
claiming; a right so to do should come here and offer himself as 
a member of the Senate, and should be received here; that, in 
judging of the qualifications, returns, and elections of the member, 
the Senate decided that he was a Senator, has Congress any thing 
to do with the question ? I ask hirn if the House of Representa- 
tives can interfere? Is there an appeal to Congress or any other 
tribunal ? I ask him if that man is not a Senator in spite of the 
world ? " 

" If," replied Mr. Trumbull, " the Senator means to ask me if 
the Senate has not the physical power to admit any body, elected 
or not, I admit they have the same right to do it that twelve jury- 
men would have, against the sworn and uncontradicted testimony 
of a hundred witnesses, to bring in a verdict directly against the 
evidence and perjure themselves. I suppose we have the physical 
power to commit perjury here, when we have sworn to support 
the Constitution. We might admit a man here from Pennsyl- 
vania Avenue, elected by nobody, as a member of this Senate; but 
we w r ould commit perjury in doing it, and have no right to do it." 

Mr. Trumbull made an extended reply, which assumed some- 
what the form of a conversation, in which Mr. Dixon and other 
Senators participated. Mr. Trumbull claimed that it required the 
concurrent action of both houses of Congress to recognize any 
government in States where rebellion had overthrown it. 

On the 28th of February, the concurrent resolution still pend- 
ing, Mr. Nye, of Nevada, advocated its passage, lie opposed the 
present admission of any member from the seceding States. " We 
are told," said he, "by the apologists of these men who are being 
elected on their merits as rebels, to the exclusion of Union men, 
that ' we must not expect too much of them.' I fully accede to 



426 THE TIIIllTY-XLYlir CONGRESS. 

this idea. A class that during it- whole political life has aimed 
at a monopoly of wealth, a monopoly <>{' labor, and a monopoly 
of political power; that engaged in the attempt at revolution in 
order to establish more fully and to perpetuate such monopoly ; 
that, failing in this, has become more hittd- by disappointment, 
should have time; and, sir, I am decidedly in favor of giving 
them all the time necessary for the most substantial improvement. 
I would say to these men, 'Go home! Go hack and labor a- in- 
dustriousl) to disabuse the minds of your constituencies a- you 
labored to mislead ami impose upon them. Tell them that the 
Union Government always was ami uever can he any thing else 
than a jusl Government. Tell them that the Constitution has 
become the acknowledged sovereign, ami that it presides in both 
houses of ( ongress. Inform them, while yon are about it, that 
the rebel sympathizers and apologists in the North can do them 
no good; that they are acting as much out of time and propriety 
now as they did in the time of the war, when their encourage- 
ment only prolonged the conflict and added to Southern disasti r. 
You may say to your constituencies that the majority in Congress 
is very tenacious on the subject of the Union war debt; that it 
is determined to keep faith with the national creditors; that it is 
benl on adopting and throwing around it all the safeguards and 
precautions possible; and that your admission just now,andyour 
alliance with Northern sympathizers, would not he propitious in 
raising the value of our public securities. While you are con- 
ferring with your constituents, you may as well repeat to them 
the common political axiom that Representatives are elected to 
represent their constituents, ami that it is not believed at the -cat 
of Government that a disloyal constituency would make such a 
mistake as to send loyal Representatives i<> Congress. In short, 
you ma_\ a- well say to your people that, as Congress represents 
the loyalty of the nation, South a- well as North, and has much 
important work on hand, some of it requiring a two-thirds ma- 
jority, it i- not deemed wholly prudent to part with that majority 
out of mere comity to men from whom no assistance could he 
expected. Finally, by way of closing the suggestive instructions, 

\<>u may give your constituents to understand that, a- you went 

out of Congress rebel end foremost, you will not probably get 
into those vacant seats over yonder except that you come hack 
I 'nioii end foremost.' ' 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 427 

Mr. Stewart, of Nevada, held opinions of the pending question 
different from those maintained by his colleague. He thought 
" the power to suspend the right of a State to representation might 
imply a dangerous power, and might imply a right to suspend it 
for any reason that Congress might see fit. The power to sus- 
pend the right of a State to be represented might hereafter be a 
terrible precedent." "There is no provision in the Constitution," 
said Mr. Stewart, "conferring such a power upon Congress. No 
authority of the kind is expressed in that instrument, nor can I 
find any place where it is implied." In another portion of his 
speech, which was very long, and occupied part of the session of 
the succeeding day, Mr. Stewart remarked : " In the darkest time 
of the rebellion, I deny that the right to represent Tennessee in 
this hall by those who were loyal ever was for a moment sus- 
pended, but their power to obey the law, their power to represent 
it was prevented by treason. They were overpowered, and they 
were denied the right of representation, not by Congress, not by 
the Government. This war was to maintain for them that right 
which rebellion had sought to takeaway from them, and had for 
a time suspended the harmonious relations of the State to the 
General Government; and it will be too much to admit that this 
Government has ever been in such a fix that the people thereof 
were really not entitled to the protection of the Constitution, and 
because they were denied it this war was brought on, this war 
was prosecuted." 

Mr. Johnson opposed the resolution in a protracted speech in 
which he reviewed the entire subject of reconstruction. Of the 
condition and rights of the Southern States he said: "They are 
as much States as they were when the insurrection was inaugu- 
rated, and their relation to their sister States, and their consequent 
relation to the Government of the United States, is the same rela- 
tion in which they stood to both when the insurrection was in- 
augurated. That would seem to follow logically as a necessary 
result, and if that is a necessary result, does it not also follow that 
they are entitled to representation in this chamber? Whether 
they can present persons who can take their seats, because they 
have individually committed crimes against the United States is 
another question; but I speak now of the right itself." 

Mr. Johnson argued that holding secession sentiments a few 
years ago was no evidence of present disloyalty, and cited in proof 



THE THIRTl'-MXTll CONGRESS. 

of this proposition a newspaper article purporting togiv< on 

resolutions drawn up by Mr. Wade, and passed at a meeting held 
at Cleveland in 1859, which was presided over by Joshua R. 
Giddings. 

This called forth an answer from Mr. Wade, who said: "The 
Senator from Maryland called me in question for having been 
uresenl at a meeting which he affirmed was held in Cleveland 
some 3even years ago by persons called 'Sons of Liberty,' and he 
alleged that I there consented to certain resolutions thai were 
passed which favored the doctrine of secession, and that L was 
chairman of the committee which reported them. Sir, the charge 
is a total forgery so far as I am concerned. 1 never was at any 
such meeting of the Sons of Liberty or any other sons. 1 aev< r 
uttered such a sentiment in my life; [ am not one of those who 
have or have had much association with gentlemen holding to 
secession principles. My associations have all been the other 
way. DuriiiR- the war that secession made my counsels were 
against it. I was for war to the death against the principle of 
secession, while many other gentlemen in my eye were either par- 
ticipants in or apologists lor that sentiment. I am perfectly 
aware that a war is made — and 1 am willing to meet it any- 
where — upon what are called Radical- of the country, and 1 am 
one of them. In olden times 1 was here in the Senate called an 
Abolitionist, but they have changed the name since. They have 
all got to be Abolitionists now, and they have changed my name 
to ' Radical.' 

" Mr. President, in the history of mankind, so far as 1 have 
read or know it, there never has been a time when parties were 

g ganized on radical principles of justice and right. The party 

with whom 1 ad appeal to no expediency, to none of your politi- 
cal policies; we dig down to the granite of eternal truth, and 
there we stand, and they who assail us have to assail the g] 
principles of the Almighty, for our principles are chained to his 
throne, and are as indestructible as the Almighty himself. 1 want 
no warfare with any body; but if yon will make war upon such 
principles as we have adopted, it is the worse tor you. You can 
not prevail. 

••1 have been in these political warfares for a long time: 1 
claim to be an old soldier in them. 1 stood in this Senate when 
there were not live men with me to support me, and then I i 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION. 4-29 

here and told those who were inveighing like demons against the 
principles that they called abolitionism, that I was an Abolition- 
ist. To-day you are all Abolitionists, not voluntarily, but by 
compulsion. I have wondered a great deal why men did not 
learn more about these things than they seem to do. Our prin- 
ciples are assailed now with just the same virulence that they 
used to be when we were in a small minority. I do not hold 
that they have triumphed thus far because of any superior capac- 
ity on our part. Certainly not. Why is it, then, that we, from 
the smallest of all beginnings, have conquered the prejudices of 
the people and conquered the predominant party of this country 
which had stood completely dominating the whole nation for 
more than forty years ? Why is it that we have conquered you, 
and now are triumphant here in this Senate and almost by two- 
thirds in both branches, with the whole nation at our backs? 
What miracle has wrought this change? Xone other than the 
great consoling fact that justice, liberty, and right are destined 
among the American people to succeed, and the gates of hell can 
not prevail against them, although they are trying at this partic- 
ular time very hard to do it." [Laughter.] 

On the 2d of March, the last day of the debate, Mr. Cowan 
first claimed the attention of the Senate in a speech two hours 
in length. He argued " that for any guilty part taken by the 
people in the late war, that the sufferings and losses they endured 
in that war were the natural and sufficient punishment ; that after 
it they remain purged, and ought to be readmitted to all their con- 
stitutional rights at once. That it is due to the dignity of the 
United States as a great nation, if she punishes the actual traitors 
who incited the rebellion, that it be done solemnly and according 
to the strictest form of law, in open courts, where the prisoners 
may have counsel and witnesses, so that they may make their de- 
fense, if they have any. That according to the Constitution and 
laws all the States are still in the Union; that secession ordin- 
ances could not repeal the one, nor war set aside the other ; that 
they are neither dead by forfeiture or felo de se, but are now in 
full and perfect existence, with all their municipal machinery in 
full play. That the proposition of the Committee of Fifteen to 
amend the Constitution is fundamental and revolutionary, and 
destructive of the freedom of the States and the liberties of the 
people ; that it is a threat to deprive them of their rights by com- 



%30 THE THIRTY-XIXTIT CONGRESS. 

pelling them either to admit negroes to the right of suffrage or to 
give 1 1 1 > a .-hare of their representation, which is theirs by law and 
the lasl amendment to the Constitution. That the resolution now 
before us from the -aim' < imittee is also revolutionary and de- 
structive, being an attempt to suspend the Constitution and laws 
in regard to representation in Congress over eleven States of the 
Union until Congress -hall see lit t<> restore them. It i- a decla- 
ration on the part of the members <•!' the present House and 
Senate, that having the mean- of keeping these States from being 
represented here, they are going to do so as long as they pleas 
that n<» line of these measures ran he justified as a punishment 
for the rebellion; that the Constitution forbids them as hill- of 
pains and penalties, and as ex -post facto in their character." 

Mr. Garret Davis, in the course of a speech in opposition to 
the resolution, suggested a summary solution of the present diffi- 
culties: "There is," said he, "a provision in the Constitution 
which requires the President to communicate to the two hous - 
of Congress information as to the state of the Union, and to 
recommend to them such measures :i- he -hall deem proper and 
expedient. What doe- this necessarily impose upon him".' He 
has to ascertain what men compose the two houses of Congress. 
It is his right, it is his constitutional function, to ascertain who 
constitute the two houses of Congress. The members of the 
Senate who are in favor of the admission of the Southern Sen- 
ators could get into a conclave with those Southern Senators any 
day, and they would constitute a majority of the Senate. The 
President of the United States has the constitutional option — 
it is his function, it his power, it is his right — and I would 
advise him to exercise it, to ascertain, where there are two dif- 
ferent bodies of men both claiming to he the Senate, which i- 
thc true Senate. If the Southern members and those who are 
for admitting them to their seat- constitute a majority of the 
whole Senate, the President has a right — and, by the Eternal I 
he ought to exercise that right forthwith, to-morrow, or any day 
— to recognize the < Opposition in this body and the Southern 
members, the majority of the whole body, a- the true Senate. 
And then what would become of you gentlemen? Oh, if the 
lion of the Hermitage, and that great statesman, the <age of 
Ashland, were here in the -eat of power, how soon would they 
settle this (pie-t ion ! They would -ay to. ami they would inspire 



B. ISIS OF REPP, ESE. \ ' T. I TIOK. 431 

those to whom they spoke, 'You Southern men are kept out of 
your seats by violence, by revolution, against the Constitution, 
against right; the Union is dissolved, the Government is brought 
to an end by keeping the Senators from eleven Stales out of their 
seats when the Constitution expressly states that every State shall 
have two Senators.' 

" There is no plainer principle of constitutional law than that 
the President has the right to ascertain and decide what body 
of men is the Senate and what the House of Representatives 
when there are two bodies of men claiming to be each. It is 
his right to do so, and the people of America will sustain him 
in the noble and manly and patriotic performance of his duty 
in determining the identity of the true House. It ought to have 
been done at the beginning of this session. When a petty clerk 
took upon himself to read the list of the Representatives of the 
people of the United States, and to keep the Representatives of 
eleven States out of their seats, the Constitution guaranteeing to 
them those seats for the benefit of their constituents and country, 
that subordinate never ought to have been tolerated for one day 
in the perpetration of so great an outrage. Whenever Andrew 
Johnson chooses to exercise his high function, his constitutional 
right of saying to the Southern Senators, 'Get together with 
the Democrats and the Conservatives of the Senate, and if you 
constitute a majority, I will recognize you as the Senate of the 
United States,' what then will become of you gentlemen? You 
will quietly come in and form a part of that Senate." 

Mr. Doolittle opposed the passage of the resolution. Referring 
to the plan proposed by Mr. Davis, he said : " If such a thing 
should happen — which God in his mercy, I hope, will always 
prevent — that the Senate should be divided, and one portion 
should go into one room, and another into another, each claim- 
ing to be the Senate, I suppose the House of Representatives 
could direct its clerk to go to one body and not go to the other, 
and I do not know but the President of the United States would 
have the power, in case of such a division, to send his private 
secretary with messages to one body and not send them to the 
other. Perhaps that might occur; but it is one of those cases 
that are not to be supposed or to be tolerated." 

Mr. Wilson advocated the resolution : " The nation," said he, 
" is divided into two classes ; that the one class imperiously de- 



432 THE 77///,'7T-.\7.\77/ CONGEES 

mands the immediate and unconditional admission into these 
halls of legislation of the rebellious States, rebel end foremost; 
that the other class seeks their admission into Congress, at an 
early day, loyal end foremost. He would hear, too, the blended 
voices of unrepentant rebels and rebel sympathizers and apolo- 
gists mingling in full chorus, not for the restoration of a broken 
Union, for the unity and indivisibility of the republic has been 
assured on bloody field- of victory, but for the restoration to 
these vacant chairs of the 'natural loaders' of the South." 

Referring to Mr. Davis' programme for the President's in- 
terference with the Senate, Mr. Wilson said: ''Sir, then' was a 
time when a Senator who should have said what we have recently 
heard on this floor would have sunk into his seat under the with- 
ering rebuke of his associates. No Senator or Representative has 
a right to tell us what the Executive will do. The President 
aets upon his own responsibility. We are Senators, this is the 
Senate of the United States, and it becomes us to maintain the 
rights and the dignity of the Senate of the United Stat.-. The 
people demand that their Senators and Representatives shall 
enact the needed measures to restore, at the earliest possible 
day, the complete practical relations of the seceded Stan- to the 
National Government, and protect the rights and liberties of all 
the people, without regard to color, race, or descent." 

Mr. Fessenden, having the resolution in charge, made a second 
speech, in which he answered objections which had been urged, 
and defended the Committee of Fifteen against imputations of a 
disposition to delay the work of reconstruction. 

Mr. McDougal took occasion to say a few words against the 
resolution, lie said: "I would not dare to vote for this propo- 
sition, because I have some regard for the great Judge who lives 

above. The question pending now, as practically useless as it 
will be as a rule, is yet mischievous. It is in the way of teach- 
ing bad precedents, false law, unsound loyalty. These tiling- are 
like the worm- that eat into the majestic oaks which are used 
to build vessels to ride the sea, and decay their strength, so that 
they fall down and make wrecks of navies." 

Mr. Hendricks had moved to amend the resolution by insert- 
ing the words "inhabitants of" after the word "States." This 
amendment was rejected. The Senate then proceeded to take the 



BASIS OF REPRESENTATION 4 S3 

vote on the concurrent resolution, which was passed — yeas, 29 ; 
nays, 18. 

Thus the opinion of Congress was established, by a large ma- 
jority, that the two houses should act conjointly upon the whole 
question of the representation of States, and that this question 
was entirely independent of the Executive. 



28 



4.J4 THE THIRTY-XI.XTH CONGRESS. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENT— IN THE HOUSE. 

A Constitutional Amendment Proposed axd Postponed — Proposition by 
Me. Stewart — The Reconstruction Amendment — Death op its Prede- 
cessor Lamented — Opposition to the Disfranchisement of Rebels — "The 
Onbepentent Thirty-three" — Nine-tenths Reduced to One-twelfth — 
Advice to Congress — The Committee Denounced — Democratic and Re- 
pi blioan Policy Compared — Authority without Power — A Variety of 
Opinions — An Earthquake Predicted — The Joint Resolution IV 

THE Ed 

WHILE the joint resolution proposing a modification of the 
basis of representation was the subject of consideration in 
the Senate, a constitutional amendment relating to the 
rights of citizens was made the topic of brief discussion in the 
House. It had been previously introduced and referred to the 
( lommittee of Fifteen. From this committee it was reported back 
by Mr. Bingham. It was proposed in the following form: 

"Article — . That Congress shall have power to make all laws which 
shall be necessary and proper to secure to the citizens of each State all 
privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States, ami to all per- 
son- in the several States equal protection in the rights of life, liberty, and 
property." 

This proposition was introduced on the 26th of' February, and 
was debated during the sessions of three successive day-. 

Many members <>t' the legal profession saw in the final clause 
a dangerous centralization of power. It was considered objec- 
tionable a- seeming to authorize the General Governmeni to in- 
terfere with local law- on the subject of property, the legal rights 
of women, and other matters hitherto considered wholly within 
the domain of State legislation : hence the Republican majority 
unanimously voted t<» postpone the amendment until April. 






RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENT 435 

After this postponement, and the failure of the amendment 
relating to the basis of representation to pass the Senate, the 
subject of reconstrnetion was in the hands of the Committee of 
Fifteen until the 30th of April. 

Individuals had, from time to time, introduced propositions on 
the subject, which were referred to the appropriate committee. 
The one which attracted most attention and excited greatest in- 
terest was a proposition in the Senate, by Mr. Stewart, of Nevada. 
This was in favor of a joint resolution providing that each of the 
States lately in rebellion shall be recognized as having resumed its 
relations with the Government, and its Representatives shall be 
admitted to Congress whenever it shall have amended its Consti- 
tution so as to provide — 

" 1. There shall be no distinction in civil rights among its citizens by 
reason of race or color or previous condition of servitude; 2. That all debts 
incurred in aid of the rebellion shall be repudiated; 3. That all claim for 
compensation for liberated slaves shall be relinquished ; and 4. That the 
elective franchise be extended to all persons on the same terms, irrespective 
of race, color, or previous condition, provided that none be disfranchised 
who were qualified voters in 1860; and that upon these conditions being 
ratified by a majority of the present voting population of each State, (includ- 
ing all qualified to vote in I860,) a general amnesty shall be proclaimed as 
to all who engaged in the rebellion." 



*o"e v 



This proposition had peculiar significance, since it emanated 
from a gentleman who, though elected as a Republican, had ever 
since the veto of the Freed men's Bureau acted with the Conserv- 
atives. Mr. Smnner, "with open arms," welcomed the Senator 
from Nevada as " a new convert to the necessity of negro suf- 
frage." Mr. Wilson was thankful to the author of this proposi- 
tion for placing the whole question " on the basis of universal 
liberty, universal justice, universal suffrage, and universal am- 
nesty." The resolution was referred to tin 1 Committee of Fifteen, 
with whom Mr. Wilson had no doubt it would receive "serious 
consideration." 

On the 30th of April, Mr. Stevens reported from the Committee 
of Fifteen a joint resolution providing for the passage of the 
following amendment to the Constitution : 

"ARTICLE — . 

"Sec. 1. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the 
privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any 



6 THE Til I I;T)--.yi.\TI1 COJVGBESi 

State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process 
of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the e<jual protection 
t.t' the laws. 

2 Representatives Bhall be apportioned among the several States 
which may be included within tin- Union according to their respective 
numbers, counting the whole number of persons in eacb State, excluding 
Indians ni>t taxed. But whenever in any State the elective franchise shall 
be denied to any portion of its male citizens not less than twenty-one years 
of age, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or 
other crime, tlie basis of representation in such State shall be reduced in 
the proportion which the number of male citizens shall bear to the whole 
number of such male citizens not less than twenty-one years of age. 

" Sec. 3. Until the 4th day of July, in the year 1*70, all persons who 
voluntarily adhered to the late insurrection, giving it aid and comfort, shall 
be excluded from the right to vote for Representatives in Congress and f.-r 
electors for President and Vice-President of the United States. 

"Sec. 4. Neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay 
any debt or obligation already incurred, or which may hereafter be incurred, 
in aid of insurrection or of war against the United States, or any claim for 
compensation for loss of involuntary service or labor. 

"Sec. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legis- 
lation, the provisions of this article." 

Tin's proposed amendment to the Constitution was accompanied 
by two 1 tills, one of which provided that when any State lately 
in insurrection should have ratified the amendment, its Senators 
and Representatives, if found duly elected and qualified, should 
he admitted as members of Congre-s. The other bill declared 
the high ex-officials of the late Confederacy ineligible to any 
office under the Government of the United States. 

The proposed constitutional amendment was by a vote of the 
House made the special order for Tuesday, the 8th of May. On 
that day Mr. Stevens occupied the attention of the House with a 
brief argument in favor of the amendment. Referring to the 
death in the Senate of the amendment previously proposed, Mr. 
Stevens said : " But it is dead, and unless this (less efficient, I 
admit) shall pass, its death has postponed the protection of the 
colored race perhaps for ages. I confess my mortification at its 
defeat. 1 grieved especially because it almost closed the door of 
hope for the amelioration of the condition of the freedmen. But 
men in pursuit of justice must never despair. Let us again try 
ami see whether we can not devise some way to overcome the 
united forces of self-righteous Republicans and unrighteous Cop- 
per-heads It will not do for those who for thirty years have 



reconstruction amendment. 437 

fought the beasts at Ephesus to be frightened by the fangs of 
modern catamounts." 

Of the present proposition, Mr. Stevens said: "It is not all 
that the committee desired. It falls far short of my wishes, but 
it fulfills my hopes. I believe it is all that can be obtained 
in the present state of public opinion. Not only Congress, but 
the several States are to be consulted. Upon a careful survey 
of the whole ground, we did not believe that nineteen of the loyal 
States could be induced to ratify any proposition more stringent 
than this." 

Referring to the section prohibiting rebels from voting until 
1870, Mr. Stevens said : " My only objection to it is that it is too 
lenient. Here is the mildest of all punishments ever inflicted on 
traitors. I might not consent to the extreme severity denounced 
upon them by a provisional governor of Tennessee — I mean the 
late lamented Andrew Johnson of blessed memory — but I would 
have increased the severitv of this section." 

Mr. Blaine called attention to the fact that most of the persons 
whom the third section of the amendment was designed to dis- 
franchise, had their political rights restored to them by the 
Amnesty Proclamation, or had been pardoned by the President. 

Mr. Finck opposed the proposition in a speech of which the 
following are extracts: "Stripped of all disguises, this measure is 
a mere scheme to deny representation to eleven States ; to pre- 
vent indefinitely a complete restoration of the Union, and per- 
petuate the power of a sectional and dangerous party. 

"Sir, the whole scheme is revolutionary, and a most shallow 
pretext for an excuse to exclude the vote of eleven States in the 
next Presidential election. You can not exact conditions in this 
way from any State in the Union ; no more from Georgia than 
from Massachusetts. They are each equal States in the Union, 
held together by the same Constitution, neither being the superior 
of the other in their relation to the Federal Government as 
States." 

Commenting on the first section, designed to insert a recogni- 
tion of civil rights in the Constitution, Mr. Finck said: "If it is 
necessary to adopt it in order to confer upon Congress power over 
the matters contained in it, then the Civil Rights Bill, which the 
President vetoed, was passed without authority, and is clearly 
unconstitutional." 



438 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 

To this inference, Mr. Garfield replied: " I am glad to see this 

tion here, which proposes to hold over every American 
citizen without regard to color, tin- protecting shield of law. The 
gentleman who has jusl taken his seat undertake-; to Bhow that 
because we propose to vote for this section, we therefore acknowl- 
edge that the Civil Rights Bill was unconstitutional. The Civil 
Rights Bill is now a part of the law of the land. But every 
gentleman knows it will cease to be a part of the law when 
the sad moment arrives when that gentleman's party comes into 
power. It is precisely for that reason that we propose to lift 
that great and good law above the reach of political strife, be- 
yond the reach of the plot- and machinations of any party, and 
fix it in the serene sky, in the eternal firmament of the Constitu- 
tion, where no storm of passion can shake it, and no cloud can 
obscure it. For this reason, and not because I believe the Civil 
Rights Bill unconstitutional, I am glad to see that first section 
h-n." 

Mr. Garfield opposed the section disfranchising rebels as "the 
only proposition in this resolution that is not bottomed clearly 
and plainly upon principle — principle that will stand the test 
of centuries, and be as true a thousand years hence as it is 
to-day." 

Mi-. Thayer, while favoring the proposed amendment in all 
other particulars, was opposed t" the third section. "I think/' 
said he, "that it imperils the whole measure under consideration, 
t will continue to he the condition of the country ii* you 
adopt this feature of the proposed plan'.' Continual distraction, 
continued agitation, continued bickerings, continued opposition to 
the law, and it will l>e well for the country if a new insurrection 
shall not spring from it< bosom." 

Mr. Boyer denounced the proposition as " an ingenious scheme 
to keep out the Southern States ami to prevent the restoration 
of the I 'nion until after the next Presidential election." 

Mr. Kelley, it' he "could have controlled the report of the 
Committee of Fifteen, would have proposed to give the right of 
suffrage to every loyal man in the country." He advocated the 
amendment, however, in all its provisions, lb' especially de- 
fended the third section. "This measure," said he, "doe-, not 
propose to punish them; on the contrary, it is an act of amnesty, 
and proposes, after four y< to reinvest them with all their 



RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENT. 439 

rights, which they do not possess at this time because of their 



crime." 



The passage of the resolution was next advocated by Mr. 
Schenck. Referring to the third section, he denied the principle 
advanced by Mr. Garfield that there was any thing inconsistent or 
wrong in making it an exclusion for a term of years instead of 
exclusion altogether. " If there be any thing in that argument," 
said he, " in case of crime, you must either not sentence a man to 
the penitentiary at all, or else incarcerate him for the term of his 
natural life. Or, to compare it to another thing, which perhaps 
better illustrates the principle involved, when a foreigner arrives 
upon our shores we should not say to him, ' At the end of five 
years, when you have familiarized yourself with our institutions, 
and become attached to them, we will allow you to become a 
citizen, and admit you to all the franchises we enjoy/ but we 
should require that he be naturalized the moment he touches our 
soil, or else excluded from the rights of citizenship forever." 

Mr. Schenck thought the loyal and true people throughout the 
land were "full ready to declare that those who have proved 
traitors, and have raised their parricidal hands against the life of 
the country, who have attempted to strike down our Government 
and destroy its institutions, should be the very last to be trusted 
to take any share in preserving, conducting, and carrying on that 
Government and maintaining those institutions." 

Mr. Smith opposed the resolution in a speech which, if it added 
nothing to the arguments, contributed, by its good humored per- 
sonalities and its harmless extravagancies, to the amusement of 
the auditors. 

On the following day, May 9th, the consideration of the subject 
was resumed, and Mr. Broomall addressed the House in favor 
of the resolution. He began by counting the votes that would 
probably be cast against the amendment. " It would meet the 
opposition," said he, " of the unrepentant thirty-three of this 
body. It was also to be expected that the six Johnsonian 
new converts to Democracy would oppose and vote against tin- 
measure, commencing with the gentleman from New York, [Mr. 
Raymond,] who, I believe, has the disease in the most virulent 
form, thence down to the gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. Smith,] 
who preceded me on this question, and who has the mildest and 
most amiable type of the infection. Upon them, too, arguments 



440 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

are useless. There must, then, be thirty-nine votes against the 
measure, and I want there to be no more." 

To the objection urged against the third section of the proposed 
amendment, thai it would disfranchise nine-tenths of all the voters 

of the South, Mr. Broomall replied: "This is a grand mistake. 
There were in I860 one million one hundred and twenty thousand 
voter- in those eleven States. We may take .-even hundred and 
fiftv thousand as the number of individuals in the South who ren- 
dered aid and comfort to the enemy, not counting the compara- 
tively few though powerful leaders who rendered aid and comfort 
outside of the army. But. sir, we do not propose to disfranchise 
even these seven hundred and fifty thousand. Supposing two 
hundred and fifty thousand of the rebel army were lost, we have 
five hundred thousand actual voters i n the South to be disfran- 
chised by this measure, if they come within the meaning of it. 
But do they come within the meaning of this provision? Why, 
sir, it does not embrace the unwilling conscripts; it doe- not em- 
brace the men who were compelled to serve in the army. It would 
he t'air io say three hundred thousand of these people belonged to 
the unwilling class, who were forced into the army by rigid con- 
scription laws and the various contrivance.- of the leading rebels. 
This will leave two hundred thousand; and I say now it is ut- 
terly impossible, in my opinion, that the number of people in the 
South who can be operated upon by this provision should exceed 
two hundred thousand, if, indeed, it should reach the one half of 
that number. Is this nine-tenths of the voters of the South? 

Why, it is about one ill even twelve." 

Mr. Shanklin opposed the amendment as intended "to disfran- 
chise the people of the Southern State- who have gone int.. this 
rebellion, until the party in power could fasten and rivet the 
chain- of oppression for all time to conn', and hedge themselves 
in power, that they may rule and control those people at will." 

Mr. Shanklin closed his Bpeech with the following advice to 
Congress: " Discharge your joint Committee on Reconstruction \ 
abolish your Freedmen's Bureau; repeal your Civil Rights lull, 
and admit all the delegates from the -.ceded States to their -eat- 
in <•,„,_ sho have been elected according to the law- of the 
country and j tlie constitutional qualification, and all will 
he W ell. w 

Mr. Raymond spoke in favor of the amendment, except the 



RECOXSTB UCTION A. UK. ^ '/). MEjYT. 441 

disfranchisement clause. He had opposed the Civil Rights Bill on 
the ground of want of constitutional power in Congress to pass 
it. He favored the first section of this amendment, since it gave 
the previous acts of Congress a constitutional basis. 

In answer to Mr. Broomall's " ingenious argument," Mr. Ray- 
mond said: "It seems to me idle to enter into such calculations, 
which depend on a series of estimates, each one of which can not 
be any thing more than a wild and random guess. I take it that 
we all know perfectly well that the great masses of the Southern 
people l voluntarily adhered to the insurrection;' not at the out- 
set, not as being originally in favor of it, but during its progress, 
sooner or later, they voluntarily gave in their adhesion to it, and 
gave it aid and comfort. They did not all join the army. They 
did not go into the field, but they did, at different times, from 
various motives and in various ways, give it aid and comfort. 
That would exclude the great body of the people of those States 
under this amendment from exercising the right of suffrage." 

Mr. Raymond asserted that all that was offered to the rebel 
legislatures of the Southern States, in return for the concessions 
required of them, was " the right to be represented on this floor, 
provided they will also consent not to vote for the men who are 
to represent them ! The very price by which we seek to induce 
their assent to these amendments we snatch away from their 
hands the moment that assent is secured. Is there any man here 
who can so far delude himself as to suppose for a moment that 
the people of the Southern States will accede to any such scheme 
as this'? There is not one chance in ten thousand of their doing; 
it." 

Mr. McKee advocated the amendment. He thought that op- 
position to its third section was a rebuke to those States which 
had passed laws disfranchising rebels. To obviate all objections 
to this section, however, he proposed a substitute forever exclud- 
ing "all persons who voluntarily adhered to the late insurrec- 
tion " from holding " any office under the Government of the 
United States." 

Mr. Eldridge did not intend " to make an argument on the 
merits of the joint resolution." His remarks were mostly in 
derogation of the committee by whom the measure was recom- 
mended. "The committee," said he, "report no facts whatever, 
and give us no conclusion. They simply report amendments to 



THE THJirr)--Xr.YTl( CONGRESS. 

the < institution. Was that the purpose for which the committee 
was organized? Was it to change the fundamental law of the 
land under which we of the loyal States assembled here'.' Was 
that the duty with which the committee was charged? Were 
they to inquire and report an entire change of the fundamental 
law of the nation which would destroy the States and create as 
empire? I .say they were charged with no such duty. The re- 
solution can imt fairly be construed as giving to the committee 
any such power, any such jurisdiction. The committee stands 
sting the restoration of this Union, and I hope thai no further 
business will be referred to it. It has rendered itself unworthy 
of the high duty with which it was charged." 

Mr. Eldridge asserted: "The whole scheme is in the interest 
of party alone, to preserve and perpetuate the party idea of this 
Republican disunion party." 

The debate thus entering " the domain of partisan controversy," 
Mr. Boutwell, in a speech which followed, undertook to .-how- 
how the proposition before the House "traverses the policy of the 
Democratic party with reference to the reconstruction of the Gov- 
ernment." Mr. Boutwell described the policy of the Democratic 
party, "which," said he, "they laid down as early as 1856 in the 
platform made at Cincinnati, wherein they declared substantially 
that it was the right of a Territory to be admitted into this 
Union with such institutions as it chose to establish, not even by 
implication admitting that the representatives of the existing Gov- 
ernment had any right to canvass those institutions, or to consider 
the right of the Territory to he recognized as a State. 

•■ Now, sir, from that doctrine, which probably had it< origin 
in the resolutions of 1798, the whole of their policy to this day 
has leeitimatelv followed. First, we saw it- results in the doc- 
trine of Mr. Buchanan, announced in L860, that, while the Con- 
stitution diil not provide for or authorize the -ion of a State 
from this Union, there was no power in the existing < rovernment 
to compel a State to remain in the Union against its own judg- 
ment. Following that doctrine, they come Legitimately to the 
conclusion of to-day, in which they are supported, as I under- 
stand, by the Presidenl of the United States upon the one s»de, 
and, as I know, by the testimony of A-lexander II. Stephens, /ate 
Vice-President of the so-called Confederacy, upon the ot) % er. 
That doctrine, is that these eleven States have to-day, each for it- 



RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENT. 443 

self, an existing and unquestionable right of representation in 
the Government of this country, and that it is a continuous right 
which has not been interrupted by any of the events of the war." 

On the other hand, Mr. Boutwell thus denned the position of 
"the Union party," which, he said, "stands unitedly upon two 
propositions. The first is equality of representation, about which 
there is no difference of opinion. The second is, that there shall 
be a loyal people in each applicant State before any Representative 
from that State is admitted in Congress. And there is a third : 
a vast majority of the Republican party, soon to be the controlling 
and entire force of that party, demand suffrage for our friends, for 
those who have stood by us in our days of tribulation. And for 
myself, with the right, of course, to change my opinion, I believe 
in the Constitutional power of the Government to-day to extend 
the elective franchise to every loyal male citizen of the republic." 

Mr. Spalding favored the amendment, including the third sec- 
tion, to which exception had been taken by some of his friends. 
He asked, " Is it exceptionable ? Is it objectionable ? If it be so, 
it is, in my judgment, for the reason that the duration of the pe- 
riod of incapacity is not extended more widely. I take my stand 
here, that it is necessary to ingraft into that enduring instrument 
called the Constitution of the United States something which shall 
admonish this rebellious people, and all who shall come after them, 
that treason against the Government is odious ; that it carries with 
it some penalty, some disqualification ; and the only one which we 
seek to attach by this amendment is a disqualification in voting — 
not for their State and countv and town officers, but for mem- 
bers of Congress, who are to be the law-makers, and for the 
Executive of the United States, this disqualification to operate 
for the short period of four years." 

Mr. Miller advocated all the sections of the proposed amend- 
ment except the third. Of this he said: "Though it seems jusl 
on its face, I doubt the propriety of embodying it with the other 
amendments, as it may retard, if not endanger, the ratification 
of the amendment in regard to representation, and we can not 
afford to endanger in any manner a matter of such vital impor- 
tance to the countrv." 

Mr. Eliot had voted against the former amendment, which was 
passed by the House and rejected by the Senate. The present 
proposed amendment, while it was not all he could ask, was not 



444 TIIE THIRTT-XIXTH CONGRESS. 

open to the objections which then controlled his vote. In advo- 
cating the third section, he said: "It is clear, upon adjudged law, 
thai the States lately in rebellion, and the inhabitants of I 
States, by force of the civil war, and of the Onion triumph in 
that war, so far have lost their rights to take part in the Govern- 
ment of the Union that some action on the part of Congress is 
required to restore those rights. Pardon and amnesty given by 
the President ran not restore them. Those men ran not vote for 
Presidenl or for Representatives in Congress until, in some May, 
Congress has so acted as to restore their power. The question, 
then, is very simple: Shall national power be at once conferred 
on those who have striven, by all means open to them, to destroy 
the nation's life"? Shall our enemies and the enemies of the Gov- 
ernment, as soon as they have been defeated in war, help to direct 
and to control the public policy of the Government — and that, 
too, while those men, hostile themselves, keep from all exercise 
of political power the only true and loyal friends whom we have 
had, during these four years of war, within these Southern Sta1 

It had been argued against the third section that it could not 
be enforced, that it would be inoperative. To this objection Mr. 
Shellabarger replied: "It will not require standing armies. You 
can have registry law-. Upon this registry list yon may place 
the names of men who are to be disqualified, and yon may also 
have the name- of all who arc qualified to vote under the law. 
There they will stand, there they will be, to be referred to by 
your Government in the execution of its laws. And when it 
comes to this House or to the Senate to determine whether a man 
is duly elected, yon can resort to the ordinary process applicable 
to a trial in a contested election case in cither body, as to whether 
he has been elected by the men who were entitled to eh c t him." 

Thursday. Mav LOth, was the last day of this discussion in the 
House. Mr. Randall firs! took the floor and -poke in opposition 
to the joint resolution. To the friend- of the measure he said: 
■• [i is intended to secure what yon mosi wish: an entire disagree- 
ment to the whole scheme by the eleven Southern State-, and a 
continued omission of representation on this floor." 

Mr. Strouse, in opposing the amendment, occupied mosi of his 
time in reading an editorial from the New York Times, which 
he characterized as "sound, patriotic, statesmanlike, and just." 

M Strouse expresa d, as his own opinion, " that the State- are, 



RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENT. 445 

and never ceased to be, in law and in fact, constituent parts of 
our Union. If I am correct in this opinion, what necessity exists 
for these amendments of the Constitution? Let the States be 
represented in the Senate and House by men who can conscien- 
tiously qualify as members; and after that, when we have a full 
Congress, with the whole country represented, let any amendment 
that may be required be proposed, and let those most interested 
have an opportunity to participate in the debates and delibera- 
tions of matters of so much moment to every citizen." 

Mr. Banks regarded the pending amendment as the most im- 
portant question which could be presented to the House or to the 
country. " It is my belief," said he, " that reorganization of 
governments in the insurgent States can be secured only by 
measures which will work a change in the basis of political 
society. Any thing that leaves the basis of political society in 
the Southern States untouched, leaves the enemy in condition to 
renew the war at his pleasure, and gives him absolute power to 
destroy the Government whenever he chooses. 

"There are two methods by which the change I propose can 
be made : one by extending the elective franchise to the negro, 
the other by restrictions upon the political power of those here- 
tofore invested with the elective franchise — a part of whom are 
loyal and a part of whom are disloyal, a part of whom are 
friends and a part of whom are enemies. 

" I have no doubt that the Government of the United States 
has authority to extend the elective franchise to the colored pop- 
ulation of the insurgent States, but I do not think it has the 
power. The distinction I make between authority and power is 
this : We have, in the nature of our Government, the right to do 
it; but the public opinion of the country is such at this precise 
moment as to make it impossible we should do it. The situation 
of opinion in these States compels us to look to other means to 
protect the Government against the enemy. 

" I approve of the proposition which disfranchises the enemies 
of the country. I think it right in principle. I think it neces- 
sary at this time. If I had any opinion to express, I should say 
to the gentlemen of the House that it is impossible to organize 
a government in the insurgent States, and have the enemies of the 
country in possession of political power, in whole or in part, in 
local governments or in representation here. 



44^ THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

"An enemy to the Government, a man who avows himself an 
enemy <>t' its policy and measures, who has made war against the 
Government, would not seem to have any absolute right to share 
political power equally with other men who have never been 
otherwise than friend- of the Government. 

"A pardon does not confer or restore political power. A gen- 
eral aet of amnesty differs from an individual pardon only in the 
fact that it applies to a class of offender- who can not be indi- 
vidually described. It secures immunity from punishment or 
prosecution by obliterating all remembrance of the offense; but 
it confers or restores no one to political power. 

" There is no justification for the opinion so strongly expressed, 
that this measure will fail because the rebel States will not con- 
sent to the disfranchisement of any portion of their own people. 
The proposition is for the loyal States to determine upon what 
terms they will restore to the Union the insurgent States. It i< 
not necessary that they should participate in our deliberations 
upon this subject, and wholly without reason that they should 
have the power to defeat it. It is a matter of congratulation that 
they have not this power. We have the recpiisite number of States 
without them. 

" I do not believe that there is a State in this Union where at 
least a clear majority of the people were not from the beginning 
opposed to the Mar; and could you remove from the control of 
public opinion one or two thousand in each of these States, so as 
to let up from the foundations of political society the mass of 
common people, you would have a population in all these States 
:i- loyal and true to the Government as the people of any portion 
of the Easf or West. 

"The people knew that it was the rich man's war and the poor 
man's fight. The legislation of the insurgent State- exempted, to 
a great degree, the rich men ami their sons, on account of the 
possession of property, while it forced, at the point of the bayonet, 
and oftentimes at the cost of life, the masses of tie people to 
maintain their cause. There is nothing in the whole war more 
atrocious than the cruel measures taken by the rebel leaders to 
force the people who hail no interest in it, and were averse to 
sharing its dishonor and peril." 

Mr. Banks remarked of the amendment: "It will produce the 
exact result which we desire: the immediate restoration of the 



RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENT. 447 

governments of the States to the Union, the recognition of the 
loyal people, and the disfranchisement of the implacable and un- 
changeable public enemies of the Union, and the creation of State 
governments upon the sound and enduring basis of common in- 
terest and common affection." 

"Six. Eckley advocated the joint resolution, citing a number 
of historical and political precedents in favor of its provisions. 
Of the disfranchising clause, he said : " The only objection I have 
to the proposition is, that it does not go far enough. I would 
disfranchise them forever. They have no right, founded in jus- 
tice, to participate in the administration of the Government or 
exercise political power. If they receive protection in their 
persons and property, are permitted to share in the nation's 
bounties, and live in security under the broad aegis of the na- 
tion's flag, it is far more than the nation owes them." 

Mr. Longyear favored the amendment, but disliked the third 
section, of which he said : " Let us then reject this dead weight, 
and not load down good provisions, absolutely essential provis- 
ions, by this, which, however good in and of itself, can not be 
enforced. I regard this provision, if adopted, both worthless and 
harmless, and, therefore, I shall vote for the proposed amendment 
as a whole, whether this be rejected or retained." 

Mr. Beaman held a similar opinion. He said : "We very well 
know that such a provision would be entirely inoperative, because 
electors for President and Vice-President can be appointed by the 
Legislatures, according to a practice that has always obtained in 
South Carolina. The provision does not extend to the election 
of Senators, and, consequently, it can operate only to affect the 
election of members of this House, and that only for a period 
of four years." 

Mr. Rogers denounced the proposed amendment in emphatic 
terms. He said : " The first section of this programme of dis- 
union is the most dangerous to liberty. It saps the foundation 
of the Government; it destroys the elementary principles of the 
States; it consolidates every thing into one imperial despotism ; 
it annihilates all the rights which lie at the foundation of the 
union of the States, and which have characterized this Govern- 
ment and made it prosperous and great during the long period 
of its existence. It will result in a revolution worse than that 
through which we have just passed; it will rock the earth like 



448 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

the throes of an earthquake, until its tragedy will summon the 
inhabitants of the world to witness its dreadful shock. 

"In the third section, yon undertake," Baid Mr. Rogers, "to 
enunciate a doctrine that will, if carried out, disfranchise seven 
or eight million people, and that will put them in a worse con- 
dition than the serfs of Russia or the downtrodden people of 

Poland and Hungary, until the year 1870." 
Mr. Farnsworth advocated the amendment, but did not regard 

the third section as of any practical value. It did not provide 
punishment adequate tn the guilt of the various offenders. " There 
is a large class of men," said he, "both in the North and South, 
equally — yea, and more — guilty than thousands of the misguided 
men who will be disfranchised by this provision, who will not 
be affected by it. I allude to those politicians and others at the 
South, who, keeping themselves out of danger, set on the ignorant 
and brave to fight for what they were told by these rascals were 
'their rights;' and to other politicians, editors, 'copper-heads' in 
the North, some of whom were and are members of Congress, 
who encouraged them and discouraged our soldiers." 

Mr. Bingham spoke in favor of the amendment. He preferred 
that the disfranchising clause should be embodied in an act of 
Congress. "I trust," said he, "that this amendment, with or 
•without the third section, will pass this House, that the day may 
soon come when Tennessee — loyal Tennessee — loyal in the very 
heart of the rebellion, her mountains and plains blasted by the 
ravages of war and stained with the blood of her faithful chil- 
dren fallen in the great struggle for the maintenance of the 
Union, having already conformed her constitution and laws to 
everv provision of this amendment, will at once, upon its sub- 
mission by Congress, irrevocably ratify it, and be, without further 
delay, represented in Congress by her loyal Representatives and 
Senators. 

" Let that great example be set by Tennessee, and it will be 
worth a hundred thousand votes to the loyal people in the free 
North. Let this be done, and it will be hailed as the harbinger 
of thai day for which all good men pray, when the fallen pillars 
of the republic shall be restored without violence or the noise of 
words or the sound of the hammer, each to its original place in 
the sacred temple of our national liberties, thereby giving assur- 
ance to all the world that, for the defense of the republic, it was 



RECONSTR UCT10X . I. WE. \ D, )/ h'.YT. 44 9 

not in vain that a million and a half of men, the very elect of 
the earth, rushed to arms ; that the republic still lives, and will 
live for evermore, the sanctuary of an inviolable justice, the refuge 
of liberty, and the imperishable monument of the nation's dead, 
from the humblest soldier who perished on the march, or went 
down amid the thunder and tempest of the dread conflict, up 
through all the shining roll of heroes and patriots and martyrs 
to the incorruptible and immortal Commander-in-chief, who fell 
by an assassin's hand in the capital, and thus died that his coun- 
try might live." 

The hour having arrived when, by understanding of the House, 
the discussion should close, Mr. Stevens closed the debate with a 
short speech. " I am glad," said he, " to see great unanimity 
among the Union friends in this House on all the provisions of 
this joint resolution except the third one. I am not very much 
gratified to see any division among our friends on that which I 
consider the vital proposition of them all. Without that, it 
amounts to nothing. I do not care the snap of my finger whether 
it be passed or not if that be stricken out. I should be sorry to 
find that that provision was stricken out, because, before any 
portion of this can be put into operation, there will be, if not a 
Herod, a worse than Herod elsewhere to obstruct our actions. 
That side of the house will be filled with yelling secessionists 
and hissing copper-heads. Give us the third section or give us 
nothing. Do not balk us with the pretense of an amendment 
which throws the Union into the hands of the enemy before it 
becomes consolidated. Do not, I pray you, admit those who 
have slaughtered half a million of our countrymen until their 
clothes are dried, and until they are reclad. I do not wish to 
sit side by side with men whose garments smell of the blood 
of my kindred. Gentlemen seem to forget the scenes that were 
enacted here years ago. Many of you were not here. But my 
friend from Ohio [Mr. Garfield] ought to have kept up his 
reading enough to have been familiar with the history of those 
days, when the men that you propose to admit occupied the 
other side of the House; when the mighty Toombs, with his 
shaggy locks, headed a gang who, with shouts of defiance on 
this floor, rendered this a hell of legislation. 

"Ah, sir, it was but six years ago when they were here, just 
before they went out to join the armies of Catiline, just before they 
29 



'0 Tin-: THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 

left this hall. Those of you who were here then will remember 
the scene in which every Southern member, encouraged by their 
allies, came forth in one yelling body because a -perch for free- 
dom was being made here; when weapons were drawn, and 
Barksdale's bowie-knife gleamed before our eyes. Would you 

have these men hack again so s i to reenact tho aes? 

\V;iif until I am gone, T pray you. I want not to go through 
ii again. It will be but a short time for my colleague to wait. 

I hope he will not put us to that test." 

At the close of his remark-. .Mr. Steven- moved the previous 
«p lost ion. 

M r. Garfield hoped that it would be voted down, that he might 
have an opportunity to offer a substitute for the third section, 
forever excluding the persons therein specified "from holding 
any office of trust or profit under the Government of the United 
States." 

Nevertheless, the previous question was sustained, and a vote 
was taken on the joint resolution proposing the constitutional 
amendment as it came from the committee. The following are 
the yeas and nay- : 

Yeas — Messrs Alley, Allison, Aim^. Anderson, Delos I! Ashley, James M. 
Ashley, Baker, Baldwin. Banks, Barker. Baxter. Beaman, Benjamin, Bidwell, 
Bingham, Blaine, Blow. Boutwell, Bromwell, Broomall, Buckland, Bundy, 
Header W. Clarke, > i ■ 1 1 1 c_v Clark.'. Cobh, Conkling, Cook, Cullom, Darling, 
Davis, Dawes, Defrees, Delano, Deming, Dixon. Dodge, Donnelly, Driggs, Du- 
mont, Eckley, Eggleston, Eliot, Farnsworth, Ferry, Garfield, Grinnell, Gris- 
wold, Abnber < '. Harding, Hart. Hayes, Henderson, Higby, HolmeB, Hooper. 
Hotchkiss, Asahel W. Hubbard, * Ihester 1> Hubbard, l><-mas Hubbard, James 
K Hubbell, Hulburd, James Humphrey, Ingersoll, Jenckes, Julian, Kasson, 
Kelley, Kelso, Ketcham, Kuykendall, Laflin, George V. Lawrence, William 
Lawrence, Loan, Longyear, Lynch, Marston, McClurg, Mclndoe, McKee, 
McRuer, Mercur, Miller. Moorhead, Morrill. Morris, Moulton, Myers, New- 
ell, O'Neill, Orth, Paine, Patterson. Perham, Pike, Plants, Price, William 

II Randall, Raymond, Alexander H. Rice, John 11 Rice, Rollins, Sawyer, 
Schenck, Scofield, Shellabarger, Spalding, Stevens, Stilwell, Thayer, Francis 
Thomas, John L Thomas, Trowbridge, Upson, Van Aernam, Burt Van Horn, 
Roberl T Van Horn. Ward, Warner, Klihu B. Washbnrne, Henry IV Wash- 
burn, William P. Washburn, Welker, William-. James F. Wilson. Stephen 
F. Wilson. Windom, Woodb ridge, ami the Speaker — 128. 

Nays — Messrs Ancona, Bergen, Boyer, Chanler, Coffroth, Dawson, Eld- 
ridge, Finok, Glossbronner, Goodyear, Grider, Aaron Harding, Harris. 
Kerr. Latham, Le Blond, Marshall, McCullough, Nil.lack. Phelps. Radford, 
Samuel J. Randall, Ritter, Rogers, R039, Rosseau, Shanklin, Sit^reaves, 



RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENT. 4SI 

Smith. Strouse, Tabor, Taylor, Thornton, Trimble, Whaley, WinficM, and 
Wright— 37. 

Applause on the floor and in the galleries greeted the announce- 
ment that two-thirds of the House having voted in the affirma- 
tive the joint resolution was passed. 

The heavy majority by which this measure passed the House 
indicated an effect of the President's steady opposition, the oppo- 
site of what was anticipated. The amendment secured two votes 
which were cast against the Civil Rights Bill, while it lost no vote 
which that measure received. 

It is remarkable that the joint resolution should have been 
carried with such unanimity when so many Republicans had ex- 
pressed dissatisfaction with the third section. This is accounted 
for, however, by the pressure of the previous question, in which 
fifteen Democrats joined forces with the radical Republicans to 
force the undivided issue upon the House. A large minority of 
the Republican members were thus prevented from voting against 
the clause disfranchising the late rebels until 1870. 

In the Senate, as will be seen, the amendment assumed a shape 
more in accordance with their wishes. 



452 the ni/irrr-.y/xTii congress. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENT— IN THE SENATE 

DIFFERENCE between Discussions in the House and in the Senate — Mr 
Sumner proposes to postpone — Mr. Howard takes Charge of the Amend- 
ment — SUBSTITUTES PROPOSED — The KeiT IH.K'ANS IN COUNCIL — The DIS- 
FRANCHISING Clause stricken out — Humorous Account by Mr Hendricks 
— The Pain and Penalties op not holding Office — A Senator's Pdbts 

APPEALED TO — HoWE VS. DOOLITTLE — MARKETABLE PRINCIPLES — PRAISE OF 

the President — Mi:. MoDougall's Charity — Vote of the Senate— 

CURRENCE IN THE IIolSE. 

TIT E joint resolution providing for amendments to the Con- 
stitution in relation to the rights of citizens, the basis of 
representation, the disfranchisement of rebels, and the rejec- 
tion of the rebel debt, having passed the House of Representa- 
tives on the 10th of May, awaited only similar action of the 
Senate to prepare it to go before the several State Legislatures for 
final consideration. A fortnight had elapsed before it was taken 
up by the Senate. That body was much behind the House of 
Representatives in the business of the session. Notwithstanding 
the great size of the latter, it was accustomed to dispatch business 
with much greater rapidity than the Senate. The hour rule, lim- 
iting the length of speeches, and the previous question putting a 
boundary upon debate, being part of the machinery of the House, 
caused legislation to go on to final completion, which would other- 
wise have beeo -wallowed up and lost in interminable talk. 

The Senate, consisting of a smaller number, did not realize the 
need of such restrictions. Senators sometimes indulged them- 
selves in speeches of such length as, if permitted in the House, 
would have proved an insurmountable obstacle to legislation. 

The contrast between the discussions in the two houses of Con- 
gress was never more marked than in connection with the amend- 



RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENT. ^53 

ment relating to reconstruction. In this case the members of the 
House by special rule limited themselves to half an hour in the 
delivery of their speeches, which were consequently marked by 
great pertinency and condensation. In the Senate the speeches 
were in some instances limited only by the physical ability of the 
speakers to proceed. In one instance — the case of Garrett Davis 
— a speech was prolonged four hours, occupying all that part of 
the day devoted to the discussion. The limits of a volume would 
be inadequate for giving more than a mere outline of a discussion 
conducted upon such principles, and protracted through a period 
of more than two weeks. 

The joint resolution was taken up by the Senate on the 23d of 
May. Mr. Sumner preferred that the consideration of the ques- 
tion should be deferred until the first of July. " We were able," 
said he, " to have a better proposition at the end of April than 
we had at the end of March, and I believe we shall be able to 
accept a better proposition just as the weeks proceed. It is one 
of the greatest questions that has ever been presented in the his- 
tory of our country or of any country. It should be approached 
carefully and solemnly, and with the assurance we have before us 
all the testimony, all the facts, every thing that by any possibil- 
ity ran shed any light upon it." 

The Senate proceeded, however, to the consideration of the 
joint resolution. Owing to the ill-health of Mr. Fessenden, who, 
as Chairman of the joint Committee on Reconstruction, would 
probably have taken charge of the measure, Mr. Howard opened 
the discussion and conducted the resolution in its passage through 
the Senate. He addressed the Senate in favor of all the sections 
of the proposed amendment except the third. " It is due to my- 
self," said he, " to say that I did not favor this section of the 
amendment in the committee. I do not believe, if adopted, it 
will be of any practical benefit to the country." 

Mr. Clark offered a substitute for the third section — the dis- 
franchising clause — the following amendment, which, with slight 
modifications, was ultimately adopted : 

"That no person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or 
permitted to hold any offiee under the Government of the United States, 
who, having previously taken an oath to support the Constitution thereof, 
shall have voluntarily engaged in any insurrection or rebellion against the 

United States, or given aid or comfort thereto." 



'■4 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

Mr. Wade offered a substitute for the whole bill, providing thai 
no State shall abridge the rights of any person bora within the 
ted States, and that no class of* persons, as to whose right to 
suffrage discrimination -hall be made by any State except on the 
ground of intelligence, property, or rebellion, shall be included in 
the basis of representation. " I do not suppose," said Mr. Wade, 
''thai if I had been on the committee I could have drawn up a 
proposition so good as this is that they have brought forward ; 
and yet it seems to me, having the benefit of what they have 
done, that looking it oyer, reflecting upon it, seeing all its weak 
points, it* it have any, I could, without having the ability of that 
committee, suggesl amendments that would be beneficial." 

Referring to die third section of the joint resolution, Mr. Wade 
remarked : " I am for excluding those who took any leading part. 
in the rebellion from exercising any political power here or else- 
where now and forever; but as that clause does not seem to effect 
that purpose, and will probably effect nothing at all, I do not 
think it is of any consequence that it should have a place in the 
measure." 

< >n the '24th of May, Mr. Stewart spoke three hours on the 
constitutional amendment. He advocated the extension to tin 1 
States lately engaged in rebellion of all civil and political 
rights on condition of their extending impartial suffrage to all 
■ people. lie announced his policy as that of "protection 
for the Union and the friend- of tic Union, and mercy to a 
'i foe. Mercy pleaded generous amnesty; justice demanded 
impartial suffrage. I proposed pardon for the rebels and the 
ballot for the black-.*' Of the Committee on Reconstruction, Mr. 
Stewart said : " I realize the difficulties which they hav< I 
called upon to encounter. They have acted a noble part in their 
efforts to harmonize conflicting opinions. 1 rejoice in the manner 
in which the report is presented, and the liberal spirit manifested 
by the committee toward those who are anxious to aid in the 
perfection of their plan." 

Mi-. Johnson moved to strike out the third section, without 
offering a substitute. 

Mr. Sherman offered a substitute for the second and third sec- 
tions, apportioning representation according to the number of 
male citizens qualified to vote by State laws, and apportioning 
■ taxes according to the value of real and personal property. 



recojYSTr uctiox ami:. \ '/). VENT. 455 

The constitutional amendment was not again brought up for 
consideration in the Senate until Tuesday, May 29th. The 
several days during which the discussion was suspended in the 
Senate were not fruitless in their effect upon the pending meas- 
ure. The amendment was carefully considered by the majority 
in special meeting-, when such amendations and improvements 
were agreed upon as would harmonize the action of the Republi- 
cans in the Senate. 

The first action of the Senate, when the subject was resumed, 
was to vote upon Mr. Johnson',- motion to strike out the third 
section, which was passed unanimously — yeas, 48; nays, 0. 

Mr. Howard, acting for the committee, then offered a .-cries of 
amendments to the joint resolution under consideration. The 
first of these provided for the insertion as a part of section one, 
the following clause: 

"All persons born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction 
thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the States wherein they 
reside." 

Another modification moved by Mr. Howard was the inser- 
tion, in place of the third section already stricken out, a clause 
disabling certain classes of rebels from hi 'ding federal offices. 
This amendment was substantially the same as that previously 
proposed by Mr. Clark. 

It was proposed to amend section four, which, as passed by 
the House, simply repudiated the rebel debt, by inserting the 
following clause : 

"The obligations of the United States incurred in suppressing insurrec- 
tion, or in defense of the Union, or for payment of bounties or pensions 
incident thereto, shall remain inviolate." 

Such were the amendments to the pending measure which the 
majority saw proper to propose. 

At a subsequent period of the debate, Mr. Hendricks, in a 
speech against the joint resolution, gave his view of the manner 
in which these amendments were devised. Being spoken, in good 
humor, by one whom a fellow-Senator once declared to be " the 
best-natured man in the Senate," and having, withal, a certain 
appropriateness to this point, his remarks are here presented: 

" For three days the Senate-chamber was silent, but the discuss- 



456 THE THIRTl'-.Yf.YTII CONGRESS. 

ions were transferred to another room of the Capitol, with closed 
doors and darkened win. low-, where party Leaders might safely 
contend for a political and party policy. When Senators re- 
turned to their -cats, I was curious to observe who had won and 
who lost in the party lottery. The dark brow of* the Senator 
from New Hampshire [Mr. Clark] was lighted with a gleam of 
pleasure. His proposed substitute for the third section was the 
marked feature of the measure. But upon the lofty brow of the 
Senator from Nevada [Mr. Stewart] there rested a cloud of dis- 
appointment and grief. His bantling, which he had named uni- 
versal amnesty and universal suffrage, which he had so often 
dressed and undressed in the presence of the Senate, the darling 
offspring of his brain, was dead; it had died in the caucus; and 
it was left to the sad Senator only to hope that it might not be 
his last. Upon the serene countenance of the Senator from 
Maine, the Chairman of the Fifteen, there rested the composure 
of the highest satisfaction; a plausible political platform had 
been devised, and there was yet hope for his party. "" 

( )n the 30th of May, the Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, 
proceeded in the consideration of the constitutional amendment. 
The several clauses were taken up separately and in order. 

Mi-. Doolittle was desirous of amending the first section, relat- 
ing to the rights of citizen-, by inserting a clause excepting from 
it- operation " Indian- not taxed." His proposition was rejected. 

••'Idic Committee of Fifteen," said Mr. Doolittle, referring to 
the Civil Rights Bill, "fearing that this declaration by Congress 
was without validity unless a constitutional amendment should 
be brought forward to enforce it, have thought proper to report 
this amendment." 

"I want to say to the honorable Senator." Mr. Fessenden re- 
particle; not a scintilla; not the beginning of truth." 

The first and second sections of the amendment were accepted 

in Committee of the Whole, with little further attempt :.t alteration. 
The third section, cutting off late Confederate officials from 
eligibility to Federal offices, provoked repeated attempts to mod- 
ify and emasculate it. Among them was a motion by Mr. Sauls- 
bury to amend the final clause by adding that the President, by 
the exercise of the pardoning power, may remove the disability. 



plied, "that he is drawing entirely upon his imagination. There 
is not one word of correctness in all that he is saying: not a 



'.- ■ 



RECONSIRUCTIOjY amendment. 457 

It augured the final success of the entire amendment in the 
Senate, that the numerous propositions to amend, made by those 
unfavorable to the measure, were voted down by majorities of 
more than three-fourths. 

Mr. Doolittle, speaking in opposition to the third section, said 
that it was putting a new punishment upon all persons embraced 
within its provisions. " If/' said he, " by a constitutional amend- 
ment, you impose a new punishment upon offenders who are 
guilty of crime already, you wipe out the old punishment as to 
them. Now, I do not propose to wipe out the penalties that 
these men have incurred by their treason against the Government. 
I would punish a sufficient number of them to make treason 
odious." 

"How many would you like to hang?" asked Mr. Nye. 

"You stated the other day that five or six would be enough 
to hang," replied Mr. Doolittle. 

" Do you acquiesce in that ? " asked Mr. Nye. 

" I think I ought to be satisfied," replied Mr. Doolittle, " if 
you are satisfied with five or six. 

" The insertion of this section," said Mr. Doolittle, continuing 
his remarks, "tends to prevent the adoption of the amendment 
by a sufficient number of States to ratify it. What States to be 
affected by this amendment will ratify it?" 

" Four will accept that part of it," said Mr. James H. Lane. 

"What four?" asked Mr. Doolittle. 

"Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana," replied Mr. 
Lane. " I saw some gentlemen on Monday from Tennessee, who 
told me that this particular clause would be the most popular 
thing that could be tendered. And the very men that you want 
to hang ought to accept it joyfully in lieu of their hanging." 
[Laughter.] 

"I do not know who those particular gentlemen were," said 
Mr. Doolittle. " Were they the gentlemen that deserved hanging 
or not ? " 

"liny were Conservatives from Tennessee," replied Mr. Lane. 

"I deem this section as the adoption of a new punishment as 
1m the persons who are embraced within its provisions," said Mr. 
Doolittle. 

" They seem to have peculiar notions in Wisconsin in regard 
to officers," said Mr. Trumbull; "and the Senator who has just 



4oS THE THIRTT-.Xl.VTir CONGRESS. 

taken his seal regards it as a punishment that a man can not hold 
an office. Why, sir, how many suffering people there must be in 
this land! He says this is a bill of pains and penalties because 
certain persons can not hold office, and he even seems to think 
it would be preferable, in some instances, to be hanged. He wants 
to know of the Senator from Ohio if such persons are to be ex- 
cepted. This clause, I suppose, will not embrace those who arc 
to be hanged. When hung, they will cease to suffer the pains 
and penalties of being kept out of office. 

"Who ever heard of such a proposition a- that laid down by 
the Senator from Wisconsin, that a hill excluding men from office 
i- a hill of pains, ami penalties, and punishment? The Consti- 
tution of the United States declares that no one hut a native-born 
citizen of the United State- shall he President of the United States. 
Doe-, then, every person living in this land who dors not happen 
to have been horn within its jurisdiction undergo pains, and pen- 
alties, and punishment all his lite because by the Constitution 
he is ineligible to the Presidency? This is the Senator's posi- 
tion." 

Mr. Willey spoke in favor of the pending clause of the joint 
resolution. "I hope," said he, "that we shall hear no more out- 
cry about the injustice, the inhumanity, and the want of Christian 
spirit in thus incorporating into our Constitution precautionary 
measures that will forever prohibit these unfaithful men from 
again having any part in the Government." 

"The honorable Senator." remarked Mr. Davis in reply, " is a 
professor of the Christian religion, a follower of the lowly and 
humble Redeemer; but it seems to me that he forgot all the 
spirit of his Christian charity and faith in the tenor of the re- 
marks n\ hich he made." 

"This cry for blood and vengeance," exclaimed Mr. Saulsbury, 
"can not Last forever. The eternal God who -its above, whi 
essence i- love, and whose chief attribute i- mercy, says to all his 
creatures, whether in the open daylight or in the silent hours of 
the aight, ' Be charitable; he merciful." 

Mr. Doolittle proposed two amendment- to section three: the 
first to limit it- application to those who " voluntarily engaged in 
rebellion," and the second to except those " who have duly received 
amnesty and pardon." 

These propositions were both rejected by large majorities, only 






RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENT. 459 

ten Senators voting for them. The third section, as proposed by 
Mr. Howard, was then adopted by a vote of thirty against ten. 

The death of General Scott having been the occasion of an 
adjournment of Congress, the consideration of the constitutional 
amendment was not resumed until the 4th of June. Mr. Hen- 
dricks moved to amend by including in the basis of representation 
in the Southern States three-fifths of the freedmen. Mr. Van 
Winkle offered an amendment providing that no person not ex- 
eluded from office by the terms of the third section shall be liable 
to any disability or penalty for treason after a term of years. 
Both of these propositions were rejected by the Senate. 

On the 5th of June, Mr. Poland, Mr. Stewart, and Mr. Howe 
addressed the Senate in favor of the constitutional amendment. 
Mr. Poland did not expect to be able to say any thing after six 
months' discussion of this subject. He took more hopeful views 
of the President's tractability than many others. "Although 
these propositions," said he, " may not, in all respects, correspond 
with the views of the President, I believe he will feel it to be 
his patriotic duty to acquiesce in the plan proposed, and give his 
powerful influence and support to procure their adoption." 

" While it is not the plan that I would have adopted," said 
Mr. Stewart, "still it is the best that I can get, and contains 
many excellent provisions." 

" I shall vote for the Constitutional amendment," said Mr. 
Howe, " regretfully, but not reluctantly. I shall vote for it re- 
gretfully, because it does not meet the emergency as I hoped the 
emergency would be met ; but I shall not vote for it reluctantly, 
because it seems to me just now to be the only way in which the 
emergency can be met at all." 

An issue of some personal interest arose between Mr. Howe and 
his colleague, Mr. Doolittle, which led them somewhat aside from 
the regular channel of discussion. 

" He has been a most fortunate politician," said Mr. Howe, 
" always to happen to have just those convictions which bore the 
highest price in the market." 

"That I ever intended in the slightest degree," replied Mr. 
Doolittle, "to swerve in my political action for the sake of offices 
or the price of offices in the market, is a statement wholly with- 
out foundation." 

Mr. Howe had said in substance that in 1848 Mr. Doolittle 



o Tin-: 7Y//7? rr-.v/.v 77/ congress. 

is acting with the Free Democratic party in New Turk, which 
was stronger than the Democratic party in that State. In L852, 
when he left the Free Democratic party, and acted with the 
Democratic party in Wisconsin, the Democratic party was in the 
majority in that State. He did not leave the Democratic party 
and join the Republican party in L854, but only in 1856, and 
then Wisconsin was no longer a Democratic State. 

Mr. Doolittle, after having given a detailed account of his pre- 
vious political career, remarked: "During the last six months, in 
the State of Wisconsin, no man has struggled harder than 1 ha 1 
struggled to save the Union party, to save it t<> it.- platform, to 
save it t<> its principles, t<» save it to it- supremacy. For -ix 
months, from one end of Wisconsin to the other — ay, from Boston 
to St. Paul — by every <>ne of a certain class of newspapers I have 
been denounced as a traitor to tin' Union party because 1 saved 
it from defeat. Sir, it is not the first time in the hit of the 

world that nun have turned in to crucify their savior." 

On the same day, June 6th, Messrs. Hendricks, Sherman, 
Cowan, and others having participated in the discussion, the Sen- 
ate voted on another amendment offered by Mr. Doolittle, appor- 
tioning Representatives, after the census of L870, according to the 
number of legal voters in each State by the laws thereof. This 
proposition was rejected — yeas, 7; nay-, 31. 

On the 7th of June, Mr. Garrett Davis occupied the entire time 
devoted to the constitutional amendment in opposing that meas- 
ure, denouncing Congress, and praising the President. "There 
is a very great state of backwardness," -aid he, "in both houses 
of-Congress in relation to the transaction of the legitimate, proper, 
and useful portion of the public business; hut as to the business 
that i< of an illegitimate and mischievous character, and that i- 
calculated to produce results deleterious to the present and the 
future of the whole country, there has been a good deal, much too 
much, of progress made."" 

Of President Johnson Mr. Davis said: "He seems to he the 
man for the occasion : and his ability, resources, courage, and pa- 
triotism have developed to meet its great demands. If this ark 
which holds the rights and liberties of the American people is to 
he rescued and saved, he will he one of the chief instruments in 
the great work, and his -lory and tame will he deathless." 

On the Nth of June, the last day of the dJSOUSSion, the COnsti- 



RECOXSTR UCTIOJf AM E. \ D. WENT. 461 

tutional amendment was opposed by Messrs. Johnson, McDougall; 
and Hendricks, and defended by Messrs. Henderson, Yates, and 
Howard. 

" Let us bring back the South," said Mr. Johnson, in closing 
his remarks, "so as to enable her to remove the desolation which 
has gone, through her borders, restore her industry, attend to 
her products, instead of keeping her in a state of subjection 
without the slightest necessity. Peace once existing throughout 
the land, the restoration of all rights brought about, the Union 
will be at once in more prosperous existence than it ever was ; 
and throughout the tide of time, as I believe, nothing in the 
future will ever cause us to dream of dissolution, or of subjecting 
any part, through the powerful instrumentality of any other part, 
to any dishonoring humiliation." 

" I went down once on the Mississippi," remarked Mr. Mc- 
Dougall, " at the opening of the war. I met a general of the 
Confederate army, and I took him by the hand and took him 
to my state-room, on board of my gun-boat. Said he, ( General/ 
throwing his arms around me, ' how hard it is that you and I have 
to fight.' That was the generosity of a combatant. I repeated to 
him, ' It is hard,' and he and I drank a bottle of wine or two — 
just as like as not. [Laughter.] This thing of bearing malice 
is one of the wickedest sins that men can bear under their 
clothes." 

Speaking of the third section, which had encountered great 
opposition, as inflicting undue punishment upon prominent reb- 
els, Mr. Henderson said : " If this provision be all, it will be an 
act of the most stupendous mercy that ever mantled the crimes of 
rebellion." 

" Let us suppose a case," said Mr. Yates. " Here is a man — 
Winder, or Dick Turner, or some other notorious character. He 
has been the cause of the death of that boy of yours. He has 
shot at him from behind an ambuscade, or he has starved him to 
death in the Anderson ville prison, or he has made him lie at 
Belle Isle, subject to disease and death from the miasma by which 
he was surrounded. When he is upon trial and the question is, 
'Sir, are you guilty, or are you not guilty?' and he raises his 
blood-stained hands, deep-dyed in innocent and patriotic blood, 
the Senator from Pennsylvania rises and says, ' For God's sake ! 
do not deprive him of the right to go to the legislature.' The 



j;. 1 THE THIRTY-tflJfTH CONGRESS. 

idea is that if a man has forfeited his life, it is too great a pun- 
ish m to deprive him «>t" the privilege <>t' holding offi< • ." 

Speaking of radicalism j Mr. Yates remarked; "My fear i~ not 
that this Congress will lie too radical; I am nol afraid of this 
Congress being shipwrecked upon any proposition of radicalism; 
but I fear from timid and cowardly conservatism which will nol 
risk a greal people to take their destiny in their own hand;-, and 
u lc tin- great question upon the principles of equality, jus- 
tice, and liberality. That is my fear." 

Mr. Doolittle moved that the several sections of the amend- 
ment }>c submitted to the State- ;i< separate articles. This motion 
was rejected — yeas, 11; nays, 33. 

The vote was finally taken upon the adoption of the constitu- 
tional amendment as a whole. It passed the Senate by a major- 
ity of more than two-thirds, as follows: 

Feas — Messrs. Anthony, Chandler, Clark, Conness. Oragin, Creswell, Ed- 
munds, Fessenden, Foster, Grimes, Harris, Henderson, Howard, Howe, 
Kirkwiitid. Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, M<>r_ r an. Morrill, Nye, Poland, 
Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, Trumbull, Wade, 
Willey, Williams, Wilson, ami Yates — 33. 

Nats — Messrs. Cowan, Davis, Doulittlc, (luthrio, Hendricks, Johnson, Mc- 
Dougall, Norton, Riddle, Saulsbury, ami Van Winkle — 11. 

On the 13th of June, the joint resolution, having been modified 
in the Senate, reappeared in the House for the concurrence of that 
branch of Congress. There was a short discussion of the measure 
as amended in the Senate. Messrs. Rogers, Finck, and Harding 
spoke against the resolution, and Messrs. Spalding, Henderson, 
and Stevens in its favor. 

"The first proposition/' said Mr. Rogers, "was tame in in- 
iquity, injustice, and violation of fundamental liberty to the one 

before ii-." 

" I say," siid Mr. Finck, "it is an outrage upon the people of 
those States who were compelled to give their aid and assistance 
in the rebellion. You propose to inflict upon these people a 
punishment not known to the law in existence at the time any 
offense may have been committed, but after the offense has been 
committed." 

"Let me tell you," said Mr. Harding, "you are preparing for 
revolutions after revolutions. I warn you there will be no peace 



RECOXSTR UCTIO.X . I. WENDMENT. ^63 

in this country until each State be allowed to control its own citi- 
zens. If you take that from them, what care I for the splendid 
machinery of a national government?" 

Mr. Stevens briefly addressed the House before the final vote 
was taken. He had just risen from a sick-bed, and ridden to the 
Capitol at the peril of his life. During the quarter of an hour 
which he occupied in speaking, the solemnity was such as is sel- 
dom seen in that assembly. Members left their seats, and gath- 
ered closely around the venerable man to hear his brave and solemn 
words. From his youth he had hoped to see our institutions 
freed from every vestige of human oppression, of inequality of 
rights, of the recognized degradation of the poor and the superior 
caste of the rich. But that bright dream had vanished. "I 
find," said he, " that we shall be obliged to be content with patch- 
ing up the worst portions of the ancient edifice, and leaving it in 
many of its parts to be swept through by the tempests, the frosts, 
and the storms of despotism." 

It might be inquired why, with his opinions, he accepted so 
imperfect a proposition. " Because," said he, " I live among men, 
and not among angels ; among men as intelligent, as determined, 
and as independent as myself, who, not agreeing with me, do not 
choose to yield their opinions to mine." With an enfeebled voice, 
yet with a courageous air, he charged the responsibility for that 
day's patchwork upon the Executive. " With his cordial assist- 
ance," said Mr. Stevens, " the rebel States might have been made 
model republics, and this nation an empire of universal freedom; 
but he preferred f restoration ' to 'reconstruction.'" 

The question was taken, and the joint resolution passed the 
House by a vote of over three-fourths — 120 yeas to 32 nays. 
From the necessary absence of many members, the vote was not 
full, yet the relative majority in favor of this measure was greater 
than in the former vote. 

The following is the Constitutional Amendment as it passed 
both Houses of Congress : 

"ARTICLE — . 

"Sec. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject 
to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State 
wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall 
abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States ; nor 
shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due 



464 THE TllIHTy-XlXTlI CONGRESS. 

process of law; nor deny to any person within it- jurisdiction the equal pro- 
tection of the laws. 

"Sec. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several Si 

according to their resj tive numbers, counting the whole number of persons 

in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right t«» vote at 
any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-Presidi at of 

the United States, Representatives in Congress, il xecutive and judicial 

officers of a State, or the memhers. of the Legislature thereof, is denied to 
any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, 
and citizens of the United States, or in anv way abridged, except for par- 
ticipation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein 
shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens 
shall hear to the whole number of such male citizens twenty-om 
age in such State. 

" Sbo. 3. \o person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or 
elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, 
under the United States or under any State, who, having previously taken 
an oath as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United State-, or 
as a member of any State Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer 
of any State, to support the Constitution of the United State-, shall have en- 
gaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort 
to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each 
House, remove such disability. 

"Sec. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized 
by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for 
services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. 
But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt 
or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United 
States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave: but all BUCh 
debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void 

"Sec. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate '.■ 
lation, the provisions of this article." 

The President was requested to send the Amendment to the 
several States for ratification. 

On the 22d of June, President Johnson sen! a message to Con- 
gress informing them that the Secretary of State had transmitted 
to the Governors of the several States certified copies of the pro- 
posed amendment " These step-," said the President, " are to be 
considered as purely ministerial, and in no souse whatever com- 
mitting the Executive to an approval of the recommendation of 
the amendment." It seemed to the President a serious objection 
to tlio proposition " thai the joint resolution was not submitted by 
the two houses for the approval of the President, and that of the 



RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENT 465 

thirty-six States which constitute the Union, eleven are excluded 
from representation." 

The President having no power under the Constitution to veto 
a joint resolution submitting a constitutional amendment to the 
people, this voluntary expression of opinion could not have been 
designed to have an influence upon the action of Congress. The 
document could have been designed by its author only as an ar- 
gument with the State Legislatures against the ratification of the 
Constitutional Amendment, and as a notice to the Southern peo- 
ple that they were badly treated. 

The President's message was received by Congress without 
comment, and referred to the Committee on Reconstruction. 



30 



AGO THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 



CHAPTER XIX. 

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON RECONSTRUCTION". 
AX IMPORTANT STATE PaI'KR WORK OF THE COMMITTEE DIFFICULTY OF 

obtaining information — theory of the president — taxation and 
Representation — Disposition and doings of the Southern People — 
Conclusion of the Committee — Practical Recommendations. 

OX the 8th of June, the day on which the constitutional 
amendment passed the Senate, the report of the joint Com- 
mittee on Reconstruction was presented to Congress. Thi- 
important State paper had been looked for with great interest 
and no little anxiety by the people in all parts of the country. 
It \va< drawn up with marked ability, and was destined to have 
a most important hearing upon public opinion in reference to the 
great subject which, in all its bearings, it brought to the view of 
Congress and the country. 

The committee having had unrivalled opportunities for obtain- 
ing information, their conclusions commanded the respect of those 
who differed from them, and obtained the almost unanimous ap- 
proval of the party which carried the war to a successful close. 

Referring to the nature of the work which was required of 
them, the committee said : 

"Such an investigation, covering so large an extent el' territory, and in- 
volving »" many important considerations, must necessarily require no tri- 
lling labor, and consume a very considerable amount of time. It must em- 
brace the condition in which those States were left at the close of the war; 
the measures which have been taken toward the reorganization of civil gov- 
ernment, and the disposition of the people toward the United States— in a 
word, their fitness to take an active part in the administration »\' national 
affa 

The firsl Btep to bo taken by the committee, that of obtaining 
required information, and the difficulties attending it, were thus 
set forth : 



BECOXSTR UCTIOJV AM E \ 1>. 1/ EXT. J f 67 

"A call was made on the President for the information in his possession 
as to what had been done, in order that Congress might judge for itself as 
to the grounds of belief expressed by him in the fitness of States recently 
in rebellion to participate fully in the conduct of national affairs. This in- 
formation was not immediately communicated. When the response was 
finally made, some six weeks after your committee had been in actual 
session, it was found that the evidence upon which the President seemed to 
have based his suggestions was incomplete and unsatisfactory. Authen- 
ticated copies of the constitutions and ordinances adopted by the conven- 
tions in three of the States had been submitted; extracts from newspapers 
furnished scanty information as to the action of one other State, and nothing 
appears to have been communicated as to the remainder. There was no 
evidence of the loyalty of those who participated in these conventions, and 
in one State alone was any proposition made to submit the action of the 
convention to the final judgment of the people. 

"Failing to obtain the desired information, and left to grope for light 
wherever it might be found, your committee did not deem it either advisable 
or safe to adopt, without further examination, the suggestions of the Presi- 
dent, more especially as he had not deemed it expedient to remove the mil- 
itary force, to suspend martial law, or to restore the writ of habeas corpus, 
but still thought it necessary to exercise over the people of the rebellious 
States his military power and jurisdiction. This conclusion derived greater 
force from the fact, undisputed, that in all those States, except Tennessee, 
and, perhaps, Arkansas, the elections which were held for State officers and 
members of Congress had resulted almost universally in the defeat of can- 
didates who had been true to the Union, and in the election of notorious 
and unpardoned rebels — men who could not take the prescribed oath of 
office, and who made no secret of their hostility to the Government and the 
people of the United States. 

"Under these circumstances, any thing like hasty action would have been 
as dangerous as it was obviously unwise. Tt appeared to your committee 
that but one course remained, viz. : to investigate carefully and thoroughly 
the state of feeling and opinion existing among the people of these States; 
to ascertain how far their pretended loyalty could lie relied upon, and thence 
to infer whether it would be safe to admit them at once to a full participa- 
tion in the Government they had fought for four years to destroy. It was 
an equally important inquiry whether their restoration to their former rela- 
tions with the United States should only be granted upon certain conditions 
and guarantees, which would effectually secure the nation against a recur- 
rence of evils so disastrous as those from which it had escaped at so enor- 
mous a sacrifice." 

The theory of the President, and those who demanded the im- 
mediate admission of Southern Senators and Representatives, was 
stated in the report to amount to this: 

" That, inasmuch as the lately insurgent States had no legal right to sep- 
arate themselves from the Union, they still retain their positions as States, 



461 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 

and, consequently, the people thereof hare a right to immediate representa- 
tion in Congress, without the imposition of any conditions whatever; and, 
further, that until such admission, Congress h;is no ri'Jit V> tax them tor the 
support of the Government It has even been contended that, until such 
admission, all legislation affecting their interests is, if not unconstitutional, 
at least unjustifiable and oppressive. 

" It is moreover contended that, from the moment when rebellion lays 
n it- arm*, and actual hostilities cease, all political rights of rebellious 
communities are at once restored; that because the people of a Statu of the 
I nion were once an organized community within the Union, thej nec< Bsarily 
mi remain, and their right to be represented in I - at any and all 

tin.- s, and to participate in the government of the country under all circum- 
Btanci s, admits of neither question nor dispute. If this is indeed true, then 
is the Government of the United States powerless for it- own protection, and 
flagrant rebellion, carried to the extreme of civil war, is a pastime which 
any State may play at, not only certain that it ran lose nothing, in any event, 
but may he the gainer by defeat. If rebellion succeeds, it accomplishes its 
purpose and destroys the Government If it fails, the war has been barren 
of results, and the battle may be fought out in the legislative halls of the 
country. Treason defeated in the field has only to take possession of Con 
gri 98 and the Cabinet." 

The committee in this report asserted: 

"It is more than idle, it is a mockery to contend that a people who have 
thrown oft' their allegiance, destroyed the local government which bound 
their States to the Union as members thereof, defied its authority, refused to 
execute it* laws, and ale.-. gated every provision which gave them political 
rights within the Union, -till retain through all the perfect and entire right 
to resume at their own will and pleasure all their privileges within the Union, 
and especially to participate in it.-, government and control the conduct of its 
affairs, To admit such a principle for one moment would be to declare that 
treasi n is always master and loyally a blunder. 

To a favorite argument of the advocates of immediate restora- 
tion of the rebel States, the report presented the following; reply : 

•'That taxation should be only with the consent of the people, through 
their own representatives, is a cardinal principle of all free government.-, 
but it is not true that taxation and representation must go together under 

all circumstances and at every moment of time. The people of the District 

of Columbia and of the Territories are taxed, although not represented in 
Congress If it be true that the people of the so-called Confederate State* 
have no riirht to throw off the authority of the United States, it is equally 
true that they are bound at all times to share the burdens of (Jovcrnment 

They can not. either legally or equitably, refuse to bear their just proportion 
of these burdens by voluntarily abdicating their rights and privileges as 
States of the Union, and refusing to be rcpre*ented in the councils of the 



RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENT. 409 

nation, much loss by rebellion against national authority and levying war. 
To hold that by so doing they could escape taxation, would be to oiler a 
premium for insurrection — to reward instead of punishing treason." 

Upon the important subject of representation, which had occu- 
pied much of the attention of the committee and much of the 
time of Congress, the report held the following words : 

"The increase of representation, necessarily resulting from the abolition 
of slavery, was considered the most important element in the questions aris- 
ing out of the changed condition of affairs, and the necessity for some 
fundamental action in this regard seemed imperative. It appeared to your 
committee that the rights of these persons, by whom the basis of represen- 
tation had been thus increased, should be recognized by the General Gov- 
ernment. While slaves they were not considered as having any rights, civil 
or political. It did not seem just or proper that all the political advantages 
derived from their becoming free should be confined to their former masters, 
who had fought against the Union, and withheld from themselves, who had 
always been loyal. Slavery, by building up a ruling and dominant class, 
had produced a spirit of oligarchy adverse to republican institutions, which 
finally inaugurated civil war. The tendency of continuing the domination 
of such a class, by leaving it in the exclusive possession of political power, 
would be to encourage the same spirit and lead to a similar result. Doubts 
were entertained whether Congress had power, even under the amended 
Constitution, to prescribe the qualifications of voters in a State, or could act 
directly on the subject. It was doubtful in the opinion of your committee 
whether the States would consent to surrender a power they had always 
exercised, and to which they were attached. As the best, not the only 
method of surmounting all difficulty, and as eminently just and proper in 
itself, your committee comes to the conclusion that political power should be 
possessed in all the States exactly in proportion as the right of suffrage 
should be granted without distinction of color or race. This, it was thought, 
would leave the whole question with the people of each State, holding out 
to all the advantages of increased political power as an inducement to allow 
all to participate in its exercise. Such a proposition would be in its nature 
gentle and persuasive, and would tend, it was hoped, at no distant day. to 
an equal participation of all, without distinction, in all the rights and priv- 
ileges of citizenship, thus affording a full and adequate protection to all 
classes of citizens, since we would have, through the ballot-box, the power 
of self-protection. 

'•Holding these views, your committee prepared an amendment to the 
Constitution to carry out this idea, and submitted the same to Cong] 
Unfortunately, as we think, it did not receive the necessary constitutional 
support in the Senate, and. therefore, could not lie proposed for adoption by 
the States. The principle involved in that amendment is, however, believed 
to be sound, and your committee have again proposed it in another form, 
hoping that it may receive the approbation of Congress." 



Jfi Till: 77////7T-.W.V77/ CONGRESS 

The action of the people of the insurrectionary 3l I -. and their 
responses to the President's appeals, as showing their degree of 
preparation for immediate admission into Cong ffas thus set 

forth in the report : 

- , far oe the disposition of the people of the insurrectionarj - and 

the probability of their adopting measures conforming to the changed • ■■ o 
ditioD of affairs can be inferred, from the papers submitted by the President 
as the basis of hie action, the prospects are far from encouraging. It ap- 
pears quite clear that the antislavery amendments, both to th< S and 
leral Constitutions, wer d with reluctance by the bodies which did 

adopt them; and in some States they have been either passed by in silence 
or rejected. Tin' language of all the provisions and ordinances of the States 
mi the Bttbject amounts to nothing more than an unwilling admission of an 
unwelcome truth. As to the ordinance of secession, it is in some cases de- 
clared 'null and void,' and in others -imply 'repealed,' and in no case is a 
refutation of this deadly heres sidered worthy of a place in the new 

3titutions. 

"If, as the President assumes, these insurrectionary States were, at the 
close of the war. wholly without State governments, it would seem that be- 
fore being admitted to participate in the direction of public affairs, such 
governments should be regularly organized. Long usage has established, 
and numerous statutes have pointed out, the mode in which this should be 
done A convention to frame a form of government should 1><> assembled 
under competent authority. Ordinarily this authority emanates from Con- 
gress; but under the peculiar circumstances, your committee is nol disposed 
to criticise the President's anion in assuming the power exercised by him 
in this regard. 

"The convention, when assembled, should frame a constitution of govern' 
im nt, which should be submitted to the people for adoption If adopted, a 
Legislature Bhould be convened to pass the laws necessary to carry it into 
Hi', i When a State thus organized claim- representation in Congress, the 
tion of Representatives should be provided for by law, in accordance 
with the law- of Congress regulating representation, and the proof, that the 
n has been in conformity to law, Bhould be submitted to Congn 

'• In no case have these essential preliminary steps 1 n taken. The 

vention obled seem to have assui 1 that the Constitution which had 

been repudiated and overthrown, was still in existence, and operative to 

constitute the States members of the Union, and to have contented them- 
Belves with such amendments as they were informed were requisite in order 
to insure their return to an immediate participation in the Government 

United States \nd without waiting to ascertain whether the people 
the represented would adopt even the proposed amendment-,, they at onoe 
called elections .,i' Representatives to Congress in nearly all instances bef< i 
an Executive had Keen chosen to issue certificates of election under the 
Stat.- law-, and Buch elections a- were held were ordered by the conven 
tions In one iu-taie • the writ- of election were signed by the 



RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENT. 471 

provisional governor. Glaring irregularities and unwarranted assumptions 
of power are manifest in several cases, particularly in South Carolina, 
where the convention, although disbanded by the provisional governor on 
the ground that it was a revolutionary body, assumed to district the State." 

The report thus sets forth the conduct naturally expected of 
the Southern people, as contrasted with their actual doings : 

"They should exhibit in their acts something more than unwilling sub- 
mission to an unavoidable necessity — a feeling, if not cheerful, certainly not 
offensive and defiant, and should evince an entire repudiation of all hostility 
to the General Government by an acceptance of such just and favorable 
conditions as that Government should think the public safety demands. 
Has this been done ? Let us look at the facts shown by the evidence taken 
by the committee. Hardly had the war closed before the people of these 
insurrectionary States come forward and hastily claim as a right the priv- 
ilege of participating at once in that Government which they had for four 
years been fighting to overthrow. 

"Allowed and encouraged by the Executive to organize State govern- 
ments, they at once place in power leading rebels, unrepentant and unpar- 
doned, excluding with contempt those who had manifested an attachment to 
the Union, and preferring, in many instances, those who had rendered them- 
selves the most obnoxious. In the face of the law requiring an oath which 
would necessarily exclude all such men from Federal office, they elect, with 
very few exeptions, as Senators and Representatives in Congress, men' who 
had actively participated in the rebellion, insultingly denouncing the law as 
unconstitutional. 

"It is only necessary to instance the election to the Senate of the late 
Vice President of the Confederacy — a man who, against his own declared 
convictions, had lent all the weight of his acknowledged ability and of his 
inlluence as a most prominent public man to the cause of the rebellion, and 
who, unpardoned rebel as he is, with that oath staring him in the face, had 
the assurance to lay his credentials on the table of the Senate. Other rebels 
of scarcely less note or notoriety were selected from other quarters. Pro- 
fessing no repentance, glorying apparently in the crime they had committed, 
avowing still, as the uncontradicted testimony of Mr. Stephens and many 
others proves, an adherence to the pernicious doctrines of secession, and 
declaring that they yielded only to necessity, they insist with unanimous 
voice upon their rights as States, and proclaim they will submit to no con- 
ditions whatever preliminary to their resumption of power under that Con- 
stitution which they still claim the right to repudiate." 

Finally the report thus presented the " conclusion of the com- 
mittee : " 

" That the so-called Confederate States are not at present entitled to rep- 
resentation in the Congress of the United States; that before allowing such 



472 THE THIRTY-jYIjYTH COX GUESS. 

representation, adequate security for future peace and safety should be re- 
quired; that this can only he found in Buch changes of the organic law as 
shall determine the civil rights and privileges of all citizen-; in all parts of 
the republic, shall place representation on an equitable basis, shall lix a 
stigma upon treason, and protect the loyal people against future claims for 
the expense incurred in support of rebellion and for manumitted Blavi 
together with an express grant of power in C - to enforce these pro- 

visions. To this end they have offered a joint resolution for amending tie- 
Constitution of the United States, and two several bills designed to carry tie- 
same into effect." 

The passage of the Constitutional Amendment by more than 
the necessary majority has been related. One of the bills to 
which reference is made in the above report — declaring certain 
officials of the so-called Confederate States ineligble to any office 
under the Government of the United .States — was placed in the 
amendment in lieu of the disfranchising clause. The other bill 
provided for "the restoration of the States lately in insurrection 
to their full rights" so soon as they should have ratified the pro- 
posed amendment. This bill was defeated in the House by a vote 
of To to 48. Congress thus refused to pledge itself in advance 
to make the amendment the sole test of the readniissioii of rebel 
States. Congress, however, clearly indicated a disposition to 
restore those States "at the earliest day consistent with the future 
peace and safety of the Union." The report and doings of the 
Committee of Fifteen, although by many impatiently criticised as 
dilatory, resulted, before the end of the first session of the Thirty- 
ninth Congress, in the reconstruction of one of the States lately 
in rebellion. 



RESTORATION OF TENNESSEE. 473 



CHAPTER XX. 

RESTORATION OF TENNESSEE. 

Assembling op the Tennessee Legislature — Ratification of the Constitu- 
tional Amendment — Restoration of Tennessee proposed in Congress — 
The Government of Tennessee not Republican — Protest against the 
Preamble — Passage in the House — New Preamble proposed — The Presi- 
dent's Opinion deprecated and disregarded — Passage in the Senate — 
The President's Approval and Protest — Admission of Tennessee Mem- 
bers — Mr. Patterson's Case. 

THE most important practical step in the work of reconstruc- 
tion taken by the Thirty-ninth Congress was the restoration 
of Tennessee to her relations to the Union. Of all the re- 
cently rebellious States, Tennessee was the first to give a favorable 
response to the overtures of Congress by ratifying the Constitu- 
tional Amendment. 

Immediately on the reception of the circular of the Secretarv 
of State containing the proposed amendment, Governor Brownlow 
issued a proclamation summoning the Legislature of Tennessee to 
assemble at Nashville on the 4th of July. 

There are eighty-four seats in the lower branch of the Legis- 
lature of Tennessee. By the State Constitution, two-thirds of the 
seats are required to be full to constitute a quorum. The presence 
of fifty-six members seemed essential for the legal transaction of 
business. Every effort was made to prevent the assembling of the 
required number. The powerful influence of the President him- 
self was thrown in opposition to ratification. 

On the day of the assembling of the Legislature but fifty-two 
members voluntarily appeared. Two additional members were 
secured by arrest, so that the number nominally in attendance 
was fifty-four, and thus it remained for several days. It was 
ascertained that deaths and resignations had reduced the number 



474 THE THIRTY- M.YTH CONGRESS. 

of actual members to seventy-two, and a Union cauem deter- 
mined to declare that fifty-four members should constitute a quo- 
rum. Two mure Onion members opportunely arrived, swellii 
the number present in the Capitol to fifty-six. Neither persua- 
sion nor compulsion availed to induce the two "Conservative 
members" to occupy their seats, and the house was driven to the 
expedient of considering the members who were under arrest and 
confined in a committee room, as present in their places. This 
having been decided, the constitutional amendment was imme- 
diately ratified. Governor Brownlow immediately sent the fol- 
lowing telegraphic dispatch to Washington: 

"Nashville, Tennessee, i . July 19 — 12 M. 

■■ To Hon El M. Stanton, Secretary of War, Washington, D. C. 

"My compliments to the President. We have carried the Constitutional 
Amendment in the Housa Vote, 4o to 18; two of his tools refusing to vote. 

«W. G. BROWNLOW. 

On the 19th of July, the very day on which Tennessee voted 
to rat i t \ the amendment, and immediately alter the news wa- 
received in Washington, Mr, Bingham, in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, moved to reconsider a motion by which a joint resolu- 
tion relating; to the restoration of Tennessee had been referred to 
the Committee on Reconstruction. 

This joint resolution having been drawn up in the early part 
of the session, was not adapted to the altered condition of affairs 
resulting from the passage of the constitutional amendment in 
Congress. The motion to reconsider having passed, Mr. Bing- 
ham proposed the following substitute: 

"Joint resolution declaring Tennessee again entitled to Senators ami 
!;• presentat Ives in • long: 

■•II The State of Tennessee has in good faith ratified the article of 

amendment to the Constitution of the United States, proposed by the Thirty- 
ninth Congr( 36 to the Legislatures of the several States, and has also shown, 
to the satisfaction of Congress, bj a proper spirit of obedience in the body 
of her people, her return to her due allegiance to the Government, laws, and 
authority of the United States : Therel 

■■ B I by tht & H • ' •'■ f the D 

', That the State of Tennessee is hereby 
restored to her former, proper, practical relation to the Union, and again en- 
titled t<> be represented bj Senators and Representatives in Congress, duly 
elected and qualified, upon their taking the oaths of office required by ex- 
isting laws." 



RESTORATION OF TENNESSEE. 475 

On the following day. this joint resolution was the regular or- 
der, and gave rise to a brief discussion. 

Mr. Boutwell desired to offer an amendment providing that 
Tennessee should have representation in Congress whenever, in 
addition to having ratified the constitutional amendment, it 
should establish an " equal and just system of suffrage." Mr. 
Boutwell, although opposed to the joint resolution before the 
House, had no "technical" objections to the immediate restora- 
tion of Tennessee. "I am not troubled," said he, "by the 
informalities apparent in the proceedings of the Tennessee Legis- 
lature upon the question of ratifying the constitutional amend- 
ment. It received the votes of a majority of the members of a 
full house, and when the proper officers shall have made the cus- 
tomary certificate, and filed it in the Department of State, it is 
not easy to see how any legal objection can be raised, even if two- 
thirds of the members were not present, although that proportion 
is a quorum according to the constitution of the State." 

Mr. Boutwell declared that his objections to the pending meas- 
ure were vital and fundamental. The government of Tennessee 
was not republican in form, since under its constitution more 
than eighty thousand male citizens were deprived of the right 
of suffrage. The enfranchisement of the freedmen of Tennessee 
should be the beginning of the great work of reconstruction upon 
a republican basis. " We surrender the rights of four million 
people," said Mr. Boutwell in concluding his remarks; "we sur- 
render the cause of justice; we imperil the peace and endanger 
the prosperity of the country ; we degrade ourselves as a great 
party which has controlled the government in the most trying 
times in the history of the world." 

Mr. Higby thought that Tennessee should not be admitted 
without a restriction that she should not be allowed any more 
representation than that to which she .would be entitled were the 
constitutional amendment in full operation and effect. 

Mr. Bingham advocated at considerable length the immediate 
re-t oration of Tennessee. "Inasmuch," said he, "as Tennessee 
has conformed to all our requirements; inasmuch as she has, by 
a majority of her whole legislature in each house, ratified the 
amendment in good faith; inasmuch as she has of her own vol- 
untary will conformed her constitution and laws to the Constitu- 
tion and laws of the United States; inasmuch as she has by her 



476 THE THIRTY-XIXTir CONGRESS. 

fundamental law forever prohibited the assumption or payment 
of the rebel debt, or the enslavement of men; inasmuch as she 
has by her own constitution declared thai rebels shall not exer- 
ercise any of the political power of the State or vote at elections ; 
and thereby given the American people assurance of her deter- 
mination to -ian<l by this greal measure of security for the future 
of the Republic, Tennessee is as much entitled to be represented 
here as any State in the Union." 

.Mr. l'inek. Mr. Eldridge, and other Democrats favored the 
resolution, while they protested against and "spit on" the pre- 
amble. 

The question having been taken, the joint resolution passed the 
House, one hundred and twenty-five voting in the affirmative, 
and twelve in the negative. These last were the following: 
Messrs. Alley, Benjamin, Boutwell, Eliot, Higby, Jenckes, Julian, 
Celley, Loan, McClurg, Paine, and William-. 

The announcement of the passage of the joint resolution was 
greeted with demonstrations of applause on the floor and in the 

galleries. 

< >n the day succeeding this action in the House, the joint r< - - 
lntion came up for consideration in the Senate. After a consider- 
able discussion, the resolution as it passed the If. use was adopted 
by the Senate. 

In place of the preamble which was passed by the House, Mr. 
Trumbull proposed the following substitute: 

• Wht as, In the year 1861, the government of the State of Tennessee was 
Beized upon and taken possession of by persons in hostility to the I nited 
States, and tie- inhabitants of said State in [.nr-uance of an act of < 
were declared to be in a state of insurrection against the United Stat--; and 
whereas said State government can only 1"' restored to its former political 
relations in the Union by the consent of the law-making power of the I cited 
States; and whereas tie- people of said Stat- did on tie- '-"Jd of February, 
1 365, by a large popular vote adopt and ratify a constitution of government 
whereby slavery was abolished, and all ordinances and laws of secession 
and debts contracted under the same were declared void; and whereas a 
gtai rnment has been organized under Baid constitution which has 

ratified the amendment to the Constitution of the United States abolishing 
Blavery, also the amendment proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress, and has 
■lull.- other acts proclaiming and denoting loyalty: Therefore. 

Mr. Sherman opposed the substitution of this preamble. " These 
political dogma-." Baid he, "can not receive the sanction of the 



RESTORATION OF TENNESSEE. 477 

Provident; and to insert them will only create delay, and post- 
pone the admission of Tennessee." 

" 1 pay no regard," said Mr. Wade, " to all that has been said 
here in relation to the President probably vetoing your bill, for 
any thing he may do, in my judgment, is entirely out of order on 
this floor. Sir, in olden times it was totally inadmissible in the 
British Parliament for any member to allude to any opinion that 
the king might entertain on any thing before the body; and much 
more, sir, ought an American Congress never to permit any mem- 
ber to allude to the opinion that the Executive may have upon 
any subject under consideration. He has his duty to perform, 
and we ours ; and we have no right whatever under the Consti- 
tution to be biased by any opinion that he may entertain on any 
subject. Therefore, sir, I believe that it is, or ought to be, out of 
order to allude to any such thing here. Let the President do 
what he conceives to be his duty, and let us do ours, without be- 
ing biased in any way whatever by what it may be supposed he 
will do." 

Mr. Brown entered his disclaimer. " Republicanism," said he, 
" means nothing if it means not impartial, universal suffrage. 
Republicanism is a mockery and a lie if it can assume to admin- 
ister this government in the name of freedom, and yet sanction, 
as this act will, the disfranchisement of a large, if not the largest, 
part of the loyal population of the rebel States on the pretext of 
color and race." 

The question being taken on the passage of the preamble as 
substituted by the Senate, together with the resolution of the 
House, resulted in twenty-eight Senators voting in the affirma- 
tive, and four in the negative. The latter were Messrs. Brown, 
Buckalew, McDougal, and Sumner. 

The House concurred in the amendment of the Senate, without 
discussion, and the joint resolution went to the President for his 
approval. 

On the 24th of July, the President, not thinking it expedient 
to risk a veto, signed the joint resolution, and at the same time 
sent to the House his protest against the opinions presented in 
the preamble. After having given his objections to the pre- 
amble and resolution at considerable length, the President said : 
"I have, notwithstanding the anomalous character of this pro- 
ceeding, affixed my signature to the resolution. [General ap- 



478 THE THIRTT-.xrXTH CONGRESS. 

plause and laughter.] My approval, however, ie not to be 

< strued as an acknowledgment of the right of Congress to pass 

laws preliminary to the admission of duly-qualified representa- 
tives from any of the Stal [Greal laughter.] Neither is it 
to be considered as committing me to all the statements made in 
the preamble, [renewed laughter,] sonic of which are, in my 
opinion, without foundation in tact, especially the assertion that 
the State of Tennnessee has ratified the amendment to the Con- 
stitution of the United States proposed by the Thirty-ninth Con- 
gress" [Laughter.] 

After the reading of the Pesident's Message, Mr. Stevens said: 
" Inasmuch as the joint resolution has become a law by the entire 
and cordial approval of the President, [laughter,] I am joint com- 
mittee on reconstruction to ask that that committee be discharged 
from the further consideration of the credentials of the members 
elect from the State of Tennessee, and to move that the same be 
referred to the Committee of Elections of this House." 

This motion was passed. At a later hour of the same day's 
session, Mr. Dawes, of the Committee on Elections, having per- 
mission to report, said that the credentials of the eight Repre- 
sentatives elect from Tennessee had been examined, and were 
fOund in conformity with law. He moved, therefore, that the 
gentlemen be sworn in as members of the House from the State 
of Tennessee. 

Horace Maynard and other gentlemen from Tennessee then 
went forward amid applause, and took the oath of office. 

On the day following, Joseph S. Fowler was sworn in, and took 
his seat as a Senator from Tennessee. 

The next day Mr. Fowler presented the credentials of David 
T. Patter-on as a Senator elect from Tennessee. A motion was 
made that these credentials he referred to the Committee on the 
Judiciary, with instructions to inquire into the qualifications of 
Mr. Patterson. 

The circumstances in this ease were peculiar. Mr. Patterson 
had been elected circuit judge by the people of East Tennessee in 

1. His term of office expired in 1<S<>"2, after Tennessee had 

passed the ordinance of secession and became a member of the 

Southern Confederacy. He was a firm, avowed, and influential 
Union man. and in the exercise of the duties of his office did 
much to protect the interests of loyal men. Persons who were 



RESTORATION OF TE.Y.YfiSSEE. 479 

opposed to secession, which with lawless violence was sweeping 
over the State, felt the importance of having the offices filled by 
Union men. Mr. Patterson was urged to again become a candi- 
date for judge. He reluctantly consented, and was elected by a 
large majority over a rebel candidate. Governor Harris sent his 
commission, with peremptory orders that he should immediately 
take the oath to support the Southern Confederacy. Judge Pat- 
terson delayed and hesitated, and consulted other Union men as 
to the proper course to be pursued. They advised and urged him 
to take the oath. By so doing he could afford protection, to some 
extent, to Union men, against acts of lawless violence on the part 
of rebels. He was advised that, if he did not accept the office, 
it would be filled by a rebel, and the people would be oppressed 
by the civil as well as the military power of the rebels. He 
yielded to these arguments and this advice, and took the oath 
prescribed by the Legislature, which in substance was that he 
Mould support the Constitution of Tennessee and the Constitution 
of the Confederate States. He declared at the time that he owed 
no allegiance to the Confederate Government, and did not con- 
sider that part of the oath as binding him at all. 

Judge Patterson held a few terms of court in counties when he 
could organize grand juries of Union men, and did something 
toward preserving peace and order in the community. He aided 
the Union people and the Union cause in every possible way, and 
thus became amenable to the hostility of the secessionists, who 
subjected him to great difficulty and danger. He was several 
times arrested, and held for some time in custody. At times he 
was obliged to conceal himself for safety. He spent many nights 
in out-buildings and in the woods to avoid the vengeance of the 
rebels. 

In September, 1863, the United States forces under General 
Burnside having taken possession of Knoxville, Mr. Patterson 
succeeded, with his family, in making his escape to Knoxville, 
and did not return to his home until after the close of the re- 
bellion. 

The Committee on the Judiciary having taken into considera- 
tion the above and other palliating circumstances, proposed a 
resolution that Mr. Patterson "is duly qualified and entitled to 
hold a seat in the Senate." On motion of Mr. Clark this reso- 
lution was amended to read, "that, upon taking the oaths re- 



480 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

quired by the Constitution and the laws, lie be admitted to a seat 

ill the Senate." 

It was, h«»we\-er, thought better by the Senate to pass a joint 
resolution that in the case of Mr. Patterson there should be 
omitted from the test oath the following words: "That I have 
neither sought, nor accepted, nor attempted to exercise the (unc- 
tions of any office whatever under any authority, or pretended 
authority, in hostility to the United State-." This joint resolu- 
tion having passed the Senate, was immediately sent to the House 
of Representatives, then in session, and at once came up before 
that body for consideration. The resolution was eloquently advo- 
cated by Messrs. Maynard and Taylor, and opposed by Mr. Stokes, 
all of Tennessee. 

" On the night of the 22d of February last," said Mr. Stokes, 
"I delivered a speech in Nashville, and there and then declared, 
if admitted as a member of this House, I would freeze to my seat 
before I would vote to repeal the test oath. [Long-continued 
applause on the floor and in the galleries.] I have made the 
same declaration in many speeches since then. 

" Sir, I regard the test oath passed by the United States Con- 
gress as the salvation of the Union men of the South as well as 
of the North. I regard it as sacred as the flaming sword which 
the Creator placed in the tree of life to guard it, forbidding any 
one from partaking of the fruit thereof who 'was not pure in heart. 
Sir, this is no light question. Repeal the test oath and you per- 
mit men to come into Congress and take seats who have taken 
an oath to the Confederate Government, and who have aided and 
assisted in carrying out its administration and laws. That is what 
we arc now asked to do. Look back to the 14th of August, 1861, 
the memorable day of the proclamation issued by Jefferson Davis, 
ordering every man within the lines of the confederacy who still 
held allegiance to the Federal Government to leave within forty- 
eight hours. That order compelled many to seek for hiding-places 
who could not take the oath of allegiance to the Confederate 
Government. When the rebel authorities said to our noble 
Governor of Tennessee, ' We will throw wide open the prison 
doors and let you out, if you will swear allegiance to our gov- 
ernment,' what was his reply? 'You may sever my head from 
my body, but I will never take the oath to the Confederal 
Government.'" 



RESTORATION OF TENNESSEE. 48 1 

Mr. Conkling said: "I should be recreant to candor were L to 
attempt to conceal ray amazement at the scene now passing before 
us. Only eight short days ago and eleven States were silent and 
absent here, because they laid participated in guilty rebellion, and 
because they were not in lit condition to share in the government 
and control of this country. Seven short days ago we found one 
of these Slates with loyalty so far retrieved, one State so far void 
of present offenses, that the ban was withdrawn from her, and 
she again was placed on an equal footing with the most favored 
States in the Union. The doors were instantly thrown open to 
her Senators and Representatives, the whole case was disposed of, 
and the nation approved the act. Here the matter should have 
rested ; here it should have been left forever undisturbed. But 
no; before one week has made its round, we are called upon to 
stultify ourselves, to wound the interests of the nation, to surren- 
der the position held by the loyal people of the country almost 
unanimously, and the exigency is that a particular citizen of Ten- 
nessee seeks to effect his entrance to the Senate of the United States 
without being qualified like every other man who is permitted to 
enter there. 

"We are asked to drive a plowshare over the very foundation 
of our position; to break down and destroy the bulwark by which 
we may secure the results of a great war and a great history, by 
which we may preserve from defilement this place, where alone 
in our organism the people never lose their supremacy, except by 
the recreancy of their Representatives; a bulwark without which 
we may not save our Government from disintegration and dis- 
grace. If we do this act, it will be a precedent which will carry 
fatality in its train. From Jefferson Davis to the meanest tool 
of despotism and treason, every rebel may come here, and we shall 
have no reason to assign against his admission, except the arbi- 
trary reason of numbers." 

Mr. Conkling closed by moving that the joinl resolution be 
laid on the table, which was carried by a vote of eighty-eight to 
thirty-one. 

During the same day's session — which was protracted until 
seven o'clock of Saturday morning, July 28th — the same subject 
came up again in the Senate, on the passage of the resolution to 
admit Mr. Patterson to a seat in the Senate upon his taking the 
oaths required by the Constitution and laws. After some dis- 
31 



48 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

cussion, the resolutioD passed, twenty-one voting in the affirma- 
tive :in<l eleven in the negative. 

Mr. Patterson wenl forward to the desk, and the prescribed 
oaths having been administered, he took his seat in the Senate. 
Thus, on the last daj of the firsl session of the Thirty-ninth 
Congress, Tenn was fully reconstructed in her representation. 



NEGRO SUFFRAGE. 4s J 



CHAPTER XXI. 



NEGRO SUFFRAGE. 



Review of the Preceding Action — Efforts of Mr. Yates for Unrestricted 
Suffrage — Davis's Amendment to Cdtier — The "Propitious Hour" — 
The Mayor's Remonstrance — Mr. Willey's Amendment — Mr. Cowan's 
Amemdment for Female Suffrage — Attempt to Out-radical the Rad- 
icals — Opinions for and against Female Suffrage — Reading and Writ- 
ing as a Qualification — Passage of the Bill — Objections of the Presi- 
dent — Two Senators on the Opinions of the People — The Suffrage 
Bill becomes a Law. 

OX the reassembling of the Thirty-ninth Congress for the 
second session, December 3d, 1866, immediately after the 
preliminaries of opening had transpired, Mr. Sumner called 
up business which had been introduced on the first day of the 
preceding session — a year before — which still remained unfin- 
ished — the subject of suffrage in the District of Columbia. In so 
doing, the Senator from Massachusetts said: "It will be remem- 
bered that it was introduced on the first day of the last session ; 
that it was the subject of repeated discussions in this chamber; 
that it was more than once referred to the Committee on the 
District of Columbia, by whose chairman it was reported back to 
the Senate. At several different stages of the discussion it was 
supposed that we were about to reach a final vote. The country 
expected that vote. It was not had. It ought to have been had. 
And now, sir, I think that the best way is for the Senate in this 
very first hour of its coming together to put that bill on its pas- 
sage. It has been thoroughly debated. Every Senator here has 
made up his mind on the question. There is nothing more to be 
said on either side. So far as I am concerned, I am perfectly 
willing that the vote shall be taken without one further word of 
discussion; but I do think that the Senate ought not to allow the 



TEE T!in:T)'-\l.\TU < 

bill to 1"' postponed. We ought I seize this first asion to 

put the bill on its passage. The country expects it ; the country 
will rejoice and be fill if you will signalize this first day <'i' 

vour coming together by this beautiful and generous act." 

Objection being raised t<> the immediate consideration of the 
•. it was decided that it must be deferred under a rule of 
the Senate until after t!i" expiration of sis days from the com- 
mencement "f tin - ssion. 

It i- proper here to present a brief record <>i" tin- proceedi 
upon the subject during the preceding -'--ion. The pass if a 
bill in the House of 11 presentatives, and tin' discussion upon the 
subject in that body arc given in a preceding chapter. This bill, 

Mr. Morrill subsequently said in the Senate, was ii"t an elec- 
tion bill, and conferred no right of voting upon any person I 
yond what they had before. It was a mere declaration of a right 
to vote. A- such, the hill was favorably received by the Senate 
Committee to whom it was referred, and was by them reported 
back with favor, but was never put upon it- passage. 

Meanwhile the Senate Committee had under consideration a 
hill of their own. which tiny reported on the 10th of January. 
This hill provided for restricted suffrage, requiring the qualific - 
tion to read and write. Mr. Yates, an original and uncom- 
promising advocate of universal suffrage was opposed to this 
restriction. lie was a member of the Committee on the District 
of Columbia, but had been prevented from being - nt in its 
deliberations when it was resolved to report the hill a- then I 
fore the Senate. Fearing that the hill might pa- the Senate 
w'uh the objectionable restrictions, Mr. Yates moved that it he 
recommitted, which was done. 

A.t a meeting of the committee called to reconsider the hill. Mr. 
Yates argued :it length and with earnestness against disfranchise- 
ment on the -round of inability to read and write. The commit- 
tee reversed their former decision, and reported the hill substan- 
tially in the form in which it subsequently became a law. The 
hill being before the Senate on the loth of January, 1866, Mr. 
Garrett Davis opposed it in a 3peech ofgreal length. He made 
use of every argumenl and referred to every authority within his 
ch to prove the inferiority of the negro race. After giving 
( ' definition of the " negro," the Senator remarked :" The 

great naturalist might have added a- other distinctive character- 



NEGRO SUFFRAGE. 485 

istics of the negro; first, that his skin exhales perpetually a 
peculiar pungent and disagreeable odor; .second, thai Mho hollow 
of his foot makes a hole in the ground.'" The Senator dww a 
fearful picture of the schemes of Massachusetts to use the n< 
voters, which it was her policy to create in the South. 

This subject did not again come up in the Senate until after 
the lapse of several months. On the 27th of June it was "dis- 
entombed" from what many supposed was its final resting place. 
Mr. Morrill proposed as an amendment that the elective franchise 
should be restricted to persons who could read and write. This 
was rejected; fifteen voting in the affirmative, and nineteen in 
the negative. 

Mr. Willey opposed the bill before the Senate in a speech of 
considerable length. He advocated the bestowal of a qualified 
and restricted suffrage upon the colored people of the District. 
His chief' objection to the measure before the Senate was that it 
was untimely. "Any thing not essential in itself'/' said he, "or 
very material to the welfare of the nation, or a considerable part 
of the nation, if it is calculated to complicate our difficulties, or 
inflame party passions or sectional animosities, had better be left, 
it appears to me, to a more propitious hour." 

The " propitious hour " hoped for by the Senator, did not come 
ar mnd until after the opening of the second session. The subjecl 
did not again seriously occupy the attention of the Senate, with 
the exception of Mr. Sumner's effort to have it taken up on the 
first day of the session, until the 10th day of December, 1866. 

On that day, Mr. Morrill, who, as Chairman of the Commii 
on the District of Columbia, had bill in charge, introduced the 
subject with a speech of considerable length. " This measure," 
said he, "not only regulates the elective franchise in this District, 
but it extends and enlarges it. The principal feature of the bill 
is that it embraces the colored citizens of the District of Columbia. 
in this particular it is novel, and in this particular it i- im- 
portant. In this particular it may be said to be inaugurating a 
policy uoi only strictly lor the District of Columbia, but in some 
sense for the country at large. In this respect it is, I suppose, 
thai this bill ha- received so large a share of the public attention 
during the last session and the recess of the Congress of the 
United States." 

Mr. Morrill called attention to the remonstraD fthe Mayor 



: r .s,; THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

of Washington, who had informed the Senate that in an election 
held for the purpose of ascertaining the sentiments of the voters 
of the city upon the subject, some six thousand five hundred w 
opposed to the extension of the elective franchise, while only 
thirty or forty were in favor of it. 

"These six or seven thousand voters," said Mr. Morrill, "i 
only one in thirty at most of the people of this District, and i< 
is very difficult to understand how there could be more signi 
cance or probative force attached to th or seven thousand 

vot<~ than t<> an equal number of voices independent of the ballot, 
under the circumstances. This is a matter affecting the capital 
,,f the nation, one in which the Aineriean people have an inter- 
est, a- indirectly, at least, touching the country at large. What 
the National Congress pronounce here a- a matter of right or 
expediency, or both, touching a question of popular rights, may 
have an influence elsewhere for good or for evil. We can not 
well justify the denial of* the right of suffrage to colored citizt - 
on the protest of the voters of the corporation of Washington. 
We may not think lit to grant it -imply on the prayer of the 
petitioners. Our action should rest on some recognized general 
principle, which, applied to the capital of the nation, would he 
equally just applied to any of the political communities of which 
the nation is composed." 

In closing his speech, Mr. Morrill remarked: " In a nation of 
professed freemen, whose political axioms arc those of universal 
liberty ami hitman rights, no public tranquillity i- possible while 
these rights are denied to portions of the American people. We 
have taken into the bosom of the Republic the diverse elements 
of the nationalities of Europe, and are attempting to mold them 
into national harmony and unity, and are .-till inviting other mil- 
lions to come to us. Let us not despair that the same mighty 
energies and regenerating forces will be able to assign a docile and 
not untractable race it- appropriate place in our system." 

Mr. Willey's amendment, proposed when the subject was last 

usidered in the previous session, -i\ month- before, being now 
the pending question, it- author addressed the Senate in favor of 
some restrictions upon the exercise of the elective franch 
"There ought to he some obligation," said he, "either in our 
fundamental laws in the State-, or somewhere, by some means 
requiring the peoDle to educate themselves; and if this can be 



NEGRO SUFFRAGE. 487 

accomplished by disqualifying those who are not educated for the 
exercise of the right of suffrage, thus stimulating them to acquire 
a reasonable degree of education, that of itself, it seems to me, 
would be a public blessing." 

" 1 am against this qualification of reading and writing," said 
Mr. Wilson; "I never did believe in it. I do not believe in it 
now. I voted against it in my own State, and I intend to vote 
against it here. There was a time when I would have taken it, 
because I did not know that we could get any thing more in this 
contest; but I think the great victory of manhood suffrage is 
about achieved in this country.'' 

" Reading and writing, as a qualification for voting," said Mr. 
Pomcroy, " might be entertained in a State where all the people 
were allowed to go to school and learn to read and write ; but it 
seems to me monstrous to apply it to a class of persons in this 
community who were legislated away from school, to whom every 
avenue of learning was shut up by law." 

Some discussion was elicited by a proposition made by Mr. 
Anthony to attach to Mr. Willey's amendment a provision ex- 
cluding from the right to vote all " who in any way voluntarily 
gave aid and comfort to the rebels during the late rebellion." 

This was opposed by Mr. Wilson. " We better not meddle with 
that matter of disfranchisement," said he. " There are but few 
of these persons here, so the prohibition will practically not amount 
to any thing. As we are to accomplish a great object, to establi>h 
universal suffrage, we should let alone all propositions excluding 
a few men here. Disfranchisement will create more feeling and 
more bitterness than enfranchisement." 

Mr. Willey's amendment was finally so much " amended" that he 
could not support it himself, and it received but one affirmative 
vote, that of Mr. Kirkwood. 

Mr. Cowan proposed to amend the bill by striking out the 
word "male" before the word "person," that females might 
enjoy the elective franchise. " I propose to extend this privilege," 
said he, " not only to males, but to females as well ; and 1 should 
like to hear even the most astute and learned Senator upon this 
floor give any better reason for the exclusion of females from the 
right of suffrage than there is for the exclusion of negroes. 

"If you want to widen the franchise so as to purify your 
ballot-box, throw the virtue of the country into it ; throw the 



488 THE THIRTY-XIjYTH CONGRESS. 

temperance of the country into it ; throw the purity of the country 
into ir ; tlimw the angel element — if I may so express myself — 
into it. [Laughter.] Lei thi r be as little diabolism as possible, 
but as much of the divinity as you can get." 

The discussion being resumed on the following day, Mr. An- 
thony advocated Mr. Cowan's amendment. " I suppose," said I . 
" that the Senator from Pennsylvania introduced this amendment 
rather as a satire upon the bill itself, or if he had any serious in- 
tention, ii was only a mischievous one to injure the bill. But it 
will not probably have that effect, for I suppose uol ody will vo 
for it except the Senator himself, who can hardly avoid it. and I. 
who shall vote for it because it accords with a conclusion to which 
I have been brought by considerable study upon the subject of 
suffrage." 

After having answered objections against female suffrage, Mr. 
Anthony remarked in conclusion: " I should not have introduced 
this question ; but as it has been introduced, and I intend to vote 
for the amendment, I desire to declare here that 1 shall vote for 
it in all seriousness, because I think it is right. The discussion 
of this subject is not confined to visionary enthusiasts. It is now 
attracting the attention of some of the besl thinkers in the world. 
both in this country and in Europe; and one of the very besl of 
them all, John Stuart Mill, in a most elaborate and able paper, 
has declared his conviction of the right and justice of female suf- 
frage. The time has not come for it. but the time is coming. It 
is coming with the progress of civilization and the general ame- 
lioration of the race, and the triumph of truth, and justice, and 
equal rights." 

Mr. Williams opposed the pending amendment. "To extend 
the righl of suffrage to the negroes in this country," said be, " 1 
think is necessary for their protection; but to extend the right 
of suffrage to women, in my judgment, is nol necessary for their 
protection. Wide as the poles apart are the condition- of these 
tw,, classes of persons. 'The sons defend and protect the reputa- 
tion and rights of their mother-: husbands defend and protect 
the reputation and rights of their wives; brothers defend and 
proteel the reputation and rights of their sisters; and to honor, 
cherish, and love the women of this country is the pride and the 
glory of it- -ons. 

•• When the women of this country come to be sailors and sol- 



.YEGRO SUFFRAGE. 489 

diers ; when they come to navigate the ocean and to follow the 
plow; when they love to be jostled and crowded by all sorts of 
men in the thoroughfares of trade and business; when they love 
the treachery and the turmoil of polities ; when they love the dis- 
soluteness of the camp, and the smoke of the thunder, and the 
blood of battle better than they love the affections and enjoy m< 
of home and family, then it will be time to talk about making 
the women voters; but until that time, the question is not fairly 
bet'. ire the country ." 

Mr. Cowan defended his amendment and his position. "When 
the time comes," said he, "I am a Radical, too, along - with my 
fellow Senators here. By what warrant do they suppose that I 
am not interested in the progress of the race? If the thine, is to 
be bettered, I want to better it." 

Mr. Morrill replied to the speech of Mr. Cowan. " Does any sup- 
>." said Mr. Morrill, "that he is at all in earnest or sincere in 
a single sentiment he has uttered on this subject? I do not im- 
agine he believes that any one here is idle enough for a moment 
to suppose so. If it is true, as he intimates, that he is desirous 
of becoming a Radical, I am not clear that I should not be willing 
to accept his service, although there is a good deal to be repented 
of before he can be taken into full confidence. [Laughter.] 

"When a man has seen the error of his ways and confesses it, 
what more is there to be done except to receive him seventy and 
seven times? Now, if this is an indication that the honorable 
Senator means to out-radical the Radicals, ' Come on, Macduff,' 
nobody will object, provided yon can show us you are sincere. 
That is the point. If it is mischief you are at, you will have a 
hard time to get ahead. While we are radical we mean to be 
rational. While we intend to give every male citizen of the 
United State- the rights common to all, we do not intend to be 
forced by our enemies into a position so ridiculous and absurd as 
to be broken down utterly on that question, and who ever comes 
here in the guise of a Radical and undertakes to practice that 
probably will not make much by the motion. I am not sur- 
ed that those of our friends who went out from us and have 
been feeding on the husks desire to get in ahead; but I am sur- 
prised at the indiscretion and the want of common s mse exercised 
in making so profound a plunge at once! If these gentlemen 
desire to be taken into companion-hip and. restored t" good stand- 



490 Till-: THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

ing I am the first man to reach out the hand and say, ' Welcome 
back again, so that you are repentant and regenerated; 5 but, sir, 
I am the last man to allow that you shall indorse what you call 
Radic lism for the purpose of breaking down measures which we 
propose ! " 

" He alleges/' replied Mr. Cowan, "that I am uol serious in 
the amendment I have moved ; that I am not in earnest about it. 
How does he know? By what warrant does he undertake to say 
that a brother Senator here is not serious, not in earnest? I 
should like to know by what warrant he undertakes to do that. 
He says I do not look serious. 1 have not perhaps been trained 
in the same vinegar and persimmon school, [laughter;] 1 have 
not been doctrinated into the same solemn nasal twang which 
may characterize the gentleman, and which may be considered to 
be the evidence of seriousness and earnestness. I generally speak 
as a man, and as a good-natured man, I think. I hope 1 enter- 
tain no malice toward any body. Bui the honorable Senator 
thinks that 1 want to become a Radical. Why, sir, common 
charity on-lit to have taught the honorable Senator better than 
that. I think no such imputation, even on the part of the most 
virulent opponent that I have, can with any justice be laid to 
my door. I have never yielded to his radicalism; 1 have never 
truckled to it. Whether it be righl or wrong, I have nc\ 
bowed the knee to it. From the very word f go 3 1 have been a 
Conservative ; 1 have endeavored to save all in our institutions 
that 1 thought worth saving." 

Mr. Wade had introduced the original hill, and had put it 
upon the most liberal principle of franchise. " The question of 
female suffrage," said he, "had not then Inch much agitated, and 
1 kmw the community had not thought sufficiently upon it to 
he ready to introduce it as an element in our political system. 
While I am aware of that i'aet, I think it will puzzle an\ gentle- 
man i o draw a line of demarcation between the right of the male 
and the female on this subject. Both are liable to all the laws 
you pass; their property, their persons, and their lives are affected 
by the law-. Why, then, should not the females have a right to 
participate in their construction a- well as the male part n[' the 
communit) '.' There i- no argument that 1 can conceive or that 
1 have vet heard that make- any discrimination between the two 
on the question of right. 



NEGRO SUFFRAGE. 491 

" I shall give a vote on this amendment that will be deemed 
an unpopular vote, but I am not frightened by that. T have 
been accustomed to give such votes all my life almost, but I be- 
lieve they have beeu given in the cause of human liberty and 
right and in the way of the advancing intelligence of our age; 
and whenever the landmark has been set up the community have 
marched up to it. I think I am advocating now the same kind 
of a principle, and I have no doubt that sooner or later it will 
become a fixed fact, and the community will think it just as ab- 
surd to exclude females from the ballot-box as males." 

Mr. Yates opposed the pending amendment, deeming it a mere 
attempt on the part of the Senator from Pennsylvania to embar- 
rass this question. "Logically," said he, "there are no reasons 
in my mind which would not permit women to vote as well as 
men, according to the theory of our government. But that ques- 
tion, as to whether ladies shall vote or not, is not at issue now. 
I confess that I am for universal suffrage, and when the time 
comes, I am for suffrage by females as well as males." 

" While I will vote now," said Mr. Wilson, " or at any time, 
for woman suffrage as a distinct, separate measure, I am unal- 
terably opposed to connecting that question with the pending 
question of negro suffrage. The question of negro suffrage i- 
now an imperative necessity; a necessity that the negro should 
possess it for his own protection; a necessity that he should pos- 
sess it that the nation may preserve its power, its strength, and 
its unity." 

"Why was the consideration of this measure discontinued at 
the last session, and the bill not allowed to pass the Senate?" 
asked Mr. Hendricks. 

" The bill passed the House of Representative- early in the 
session," replied Mr. Wilson. " it came to the Senate early in 
December. That Senator, I think, knows very well that we had 
no! the power to pass it for the first five or six months of the 
■in; that is, we had not the power to make it a law. We 
could not have; carried it against the opposition of the President 
of ill.- United State-, and we had assurances of gentlemen who 
were in intimate relations with him that his signature would not 
be obtained. It would not have been wise for us to pass the bill 
if it was to encounter a veto, unless we were able to pass it over 
that veto. The wise course was to bide our time until we had 



77/ E THIRTY-NINTM CONGRESS. 

that power, and that power came before the close of the session, 
but ii came in the time of great pressure, when other questions 
were crowding upon as, and ii was tboughl best by those who 
were advocating it, especially as the chairman of the committee, 
the Senator from Main.', [Mr. Morrill,] was out of the Senate 
for many days on account of illness, to let the bill go over until 
this I December." 

Mr. Johnson opposed the pending amendment. " 1 think It* it 
submitted to the ladi -." said he—" I mean the ladies in the 
true acceptation of the term — of the United States, the privilege 
would not only not be asked for, but would be rejected. I do 
nol think the ladies of the United States would agree to enter 
into a canvass and undergo what is oft< o the degradation of seek- 
ing to vote, particularly in the cities, getting up to the polls, 
crowded out and crowded in. I rather think they would feel it, 
in-t<-ad of a privilege, a dishonor." 

Mr. Johnson was unwilling to vote for the amendment with a 
view t" defeal the bill. " 1 have lived to be too old," said he, 
"and have become too well satisfied of what I think is my duty 
to the country to give any vote which I do not believe, it' it 
should be supported by the votes of a sufficient number to carry 
the measure into operation, would redound to the interests and 
safety and honor of the country." 

"The women of America," said Mr. Frelinghuysen, "vote by 
faithful and true representatives, their husbands, their brothers, 
their sons; and no true man will go to the polls and deposit his 
ballot without remembering the true and loving constituency 
that he has at home. More than that, sir, ninety-nine out of 
a hundred, I believe nine hundred and ninety-nine out of a 
thousand, of the women in America do not want the privilege 
of voting in any other manner than that which 1 have sta 
In both these n gards there is a vast difference betwi en the situa- 
tion of the colored citizens and the women of America. 

"The learned and eloquenl Senator from Pennsylvania said 
irday with great beauty that he wanted to cast the angel 
dement into the suffrage 3ystem of America. Sir, it seems to 
me, thai it would be ruthlessly tearing the angel element from 
the homi - of America : and the homes of the people of Ann rica 
aiv infinitely more valuable than any suffrage system. It will be 



NEGU< ) SUFFR IGE. 493 

a sorry day for this country when those vestal fires of piety and 
love are put out." 

On the next day, December 12th, the discus-ion being resumed, 
Mr. Brown advocated the amendment. " I stand," said he, " for 
universal suffrage, and as a matter of fundamental principle do 
noi recognize the right of society to limit it on any ground of 
race, color, or sex. I will go further and say that I recognize 
the right of franchise as being intrinsically a natural right; and 
1 do not believe that society is authorized to impose any limita- 
tion upon it that does not sprint;' out of the necessities of the 

i d state itself/' 

Believing "that the metaphysical always controls the practical 
in all the affairs of life," Mr. Brown nave the "abstract grounds" 
upon which he deemed the right of woman to the elective fran- 
chise rested. Coming finally to the more practical bearings of 
the subject, he answered the objection, that "if women arc en- 
titled to the rights of franchise, they would correspondingly come 
under the obligation to bear arms." "Are there not large 
classes," he asked, "even among men in this country, who are 
exempt from service in our armies for physical incapacity and for 
other reasons'? And if exemptions which appertain to males 
may be recognized as valid, why not similar exemptions for like 
reasons when applied to females? Does it not prove that there 
is nothing in the argument so far as it involves the question of 
right? There are Quakers and other religious sect-; there are 
ministers of the Gospel; persons having conscientious scruples; 
indeed, all men over a certain age who under the laws of many 
of the States are released from service of that character. Indeed, 
it is the boast of this republic that ours is a volunteer military 
establishment. Hence I say there is nothing in the position that 
because she may not be physically qualified for service in your 
army, therefore you have the right to deny her the franchise on 
the score of sex." 

Tn closing an extended speech, Mr. Brown remarked: " Even 
though I recognize the impolicy of coupling these two measures 
in this manner and at this time, I shall yet record my vote in the 
affirmative as an earnest indication of my belief in the principle, 
and my faith in the future." 

.Mr. Davis made another protracted speech against both the 
amendment and the original bill. "The great God," said he, 



M.94 the Tinirrv-.vrxTir congress. 

"who created all the races, and in every race gave to man woman, 
never intended that woman should take part in national govern- 
i.i< nt anion-- any people, or that the negro, the lowest, should 
ever have coordinate and equal power with the hig . the white 
race, in any government, national or domesti 

In conclusion, Mr. Davis advised the late n isl this 

eat, this most foul, cruel, and dishonoring i - meut. Men 
of the South, exhaust every peaceful means of >vhen 

your oppressions become unendurable, and it is demonstrated that 
there i< no other hope, then strike for your liberty, and strike - 
did your fathers in 1776, and as did the Hollanders and Zea- 
landers, led by William the Silent, to break their chains forged 
by the tyrants of Spain." 

" When it is necessary," said Mr. Sprague, "that woman shall 
vote for the support of liberty and equality, I shall be ready to 
cast my vote in their favor. The black man'- vote is necessary 
to this at this time. Do not prostrate all the industrial interests 
of the North by a pojicy of conciliation and of inaction. Delay- 
are dangerous, criminal. When you shall have established, firmly 
and fearlessly, governments at the South friendly to the republic; 
when you shall have ceased from receiving term- and propositi* 
from the leaders of the rebellion as to their reconstruction ; wli. n 
you shall have promptly acted in the interest of liberty, prosper- 
ity will light upon the industries of your people, and panics, com- 
mercial and mercantile revolutions, will be placed afar off; and 
never, sir, until that time shall have arrived. And as an humble 
advocate of all industrial interests of the \'o-r people of the North, 
white and black, and as an humble representative of these inter- 

3, 1 urge prompt action to-day, to-morrow, and every day until 
the work has been completed. Let no obstacle stand in the way 
now, no matter what it may be. You will save your people from 
poverty and {]■(■<■ principle- from a more desperate combat than 
they have vet witnessed. Ridicule may be used in this chamber, 
calumny may prevail through the country, and murder may be a 
common occurrence South to those who stand firmly thus and 

who advocate such measures. Let it be soj for greater will be 
the crowning glory of those who are not found wanting in the 

day of victory. Let as, then, pre-- to the vote; one glorious 

Step taken, then we may take other- in the same direction." 

"The objection," -aid Mr. Buckalew, " which 1 have to a la] 



NEGRO SUFFRAGE. 495 

extension of suffrage in this country, whether by Federal or State 
power, is this: that thereby yon will corrupt and degrade elec- 
tions, and probably lead to their complete abrogation hereafter. 
By pouring into the ballot-boxes of the country a large mass of 
ignorant votes, and votes subjected to pecuniary or social in- 
fluence, you will corrupt and degrade your elections and lay the 
foundation for their ultimate destruction." 

"After giving some considerable reflection to the subject of 
suffrage," said Mr. Doolittle, "I have arrived at the conclusion 
that the true base or foundation upon which to rest suffrage in 
any republican community is upon the family, the head of the 
family ; because in civilized society the family is the unit, not the 
individual." 

Mr. Pomeroy was in favor of the bill without the proposed 
amendment. " I do not want to weigh it down," said he, "with 
any thing else. There are other measures that I would be glad 
to support in their proper place and time ; but this is a great 
measure of itself. Since I have been a member of the Senate, 
there was a law in this District authorizing the selling of these 
people. To have traveled in six years from the auction-block to 
the ballot with these people is an immense stride, and if we can 
carry this measure alone, of itself, we should be contented for the 
present." 

The vote being taken on Mr. Cowan's amendment conferring 
the elective franchise upon women, the result was yeas, nine ; nays, 
thirty-seven. The following are the names of those who voted 
in the affirmative : 

.Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Buckalew, Cowan, Foster, Xesmith, Patterson, 
Riddle, and "Wade. 

Mr. Dixon then moved to amend the bill by adding a proviso : 

"That no person who has not heretofore voted in this District shall be 
permitted to vote unless he shall be able, at the time of offering to vote, to 
read and also write his own name." 

"I would deny to no man," said Mr. Dixon, "the right of 
voting solely on account of his color; but I doubt the propriety 
of permitting any man to vote, whatever his race or color, who 
lias not at least that proof of intelligence which the ability to 
read and write furnishes." 



496 THE THIBTT-NINTH CONGRE& 

••What is tin test?" asked Mr. Saulsbury. "A person who 
can read and write. I- it his name, or only read and write?" 
" I [is nan id one. 

•• Read and write his name!" continued Mr. Saulsbury. " A 

wonderful amount of education to qualify a man for the discharge 

the high i nd trusl of voting ! Great knowledge of the 

nment under which we live does this impart to 

! " 

re really an intelligence qualification," said Mr. 

I n, •' 1 do not know what I might say : but of the fact that 

ability of a man merely to write his own name and read it, 

is intelligence, I am not informed. To write a man'.- name is 

■ 

iply a mechanical operation. It may be taught to any hotly, 
even people of the most limited capacity, in twenty minute-; and 
to read il afterward certainly would not be very difficult." 

"I understand the amendment to include," said Mr. Willey, 
"the qualification of reading generally, and also of writing his 
name; two tests, one the reading generally, and the other the 
writing his own name." 

" Where is it- precision?" asked Mr. Cowan; "where is it to 
end. and who -hall determine it- limits? I will put the case of 
a board belonging to the dominant party, and suppose they have 
the statute amended by my honorable friend from Connecticut 

ore them, and a colored man comes forward and proposes to 
vote. They put to him the question, 'Can you write your mime 
and read?' ' Oh, yes.' 'Well, let n< see you try it.' He then 
write- his name and he reads it, and he is admitted it' he i- un- 
derstood to hel.MiL; to that party. But suppi - has recently 
happened, that this dark man should come to the conclusion to 
vote on the other side, and it were known that he meant to vote 
.,u the other side, what kind of a chance would he have? Then 
the man of the dominant party, who desires to carry the election, 

-. • Yon shall not only write your name and read it. but you 
musl read generally. I have read the senatorial debates upon 
this question, and the honorable Senator from West Virginia, 
who originated this amendment, was of opinion that a man should 
read generally. Now, sir, re id generally, if you plea-..' ' Well, 5 
says he, ' what shall I read?' Read a section of the Novum Or- 

mosi difficult and abstruse thing, or a few 
sections from < Okie's Ph; 



NEGRO SUFFRAGE. 497 

On the 13th of December, the last day of the discussion, Mr. 
Anthony occupied the chair during a portion of the session, and 
Mr. Foster look the floor in favor of the amendment proposed by 
his colleague. "The honorable Senator from Pennsylvania," said 
ho, "from the manner in which he treats this subject, I should 
think, was now fresh from his reading of ' Much A-do about 
Nothing/ and was quoting Mr. Justice Dogberry, who said, 'To 
be a well-favored man is the gift of fortune, but to read and 
write comes bv nature." The Senator from Pennsylvania and 
others seem inclined to say, 'Away with writing and reading till 
there is nv^\ of such vanity.' I believe thai the idea of admit- 
ting men to the elective franchise who can neither read nor write 
i- going backward and downward. 

"Who are the men who come forward to deposit their ballots 
in the ballot-boxes '.' They are the people of this country, to whom 
all questions must ultimately go for examination and correction. 
They correct the mistakes which we make, and which Congress 
makes, and which the Supreme Court makes. The electors at the 
ballot-boxes are the grand court of errors for the country. Xow. 
sir, these Senators propose to allow men who can not read and 
write to correct our mistakes, to become members of this high 
court of errors. 

"The honorable Senator from Massachusetts says he wants to 
put the ballot into the hands of the black man for his protection. 
If he can not read the ballot, what kind of protection is it to him?' 
A written or printed slip of paper is put into the hands of a man. 
black or white, and if he can not read it. what is it to hi: 
What does he know about if.' What can he do with if? How 
can he protect himself by it? As well might the honorable Sen- 
ator from Massachusetts put in the hands of a child who knew 
nothing of firearms a loaded pistol, with which to protect himself 
against his enemies. The child would be much more likely to 
endanger himself and his friends by the pistol than to protect 
himself. A perfectly ignorant man who can not read his ballot 
is much more likely to use it to his own detriment, and to the 
detriment of the country, than he is to use it for the benefit of 
either." 

"The argument in favor of making the right to vote universal," 
said Mr. Frelinghuysen, in making a second speech upon the ques- 
tion, "is that the ballot itself is a great education; that bv its 
32 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

encouraging the citizen, by it- inspiring him, it adds dignity to 
iharacter, and makes him strive to acquire learning. Secondly, 
that if the voting depended <>n learning, no inducement is extended 
to communities unfavorable to the right of voting in the colored 
man to give liiin the opportunity t<> learn; they would rather 
embarrass him, to prevent his making the acquisition, unless they 
were in favor of his voting : while it' voting i- universal, com- 
munities, for their own security, for their own protection, will be 
driven to establish common schools, so that the voter shall become 
intelligent." 

Pursuing a similar line of thought, Mr. Wilson said: "Allow 
the black men to vote without this qualification and they will 
land education, the school-houses will rise, school-teachers will 
be employed, these people will attend the schools, and the cause 
nt' education will In- carried forward in tin- District with more 
rapidity than at any other period in its history. Give the negro 
the right of suffrage, and before a year passes round, you will 
see these men, who voted that they should not have the right i<> 
vote, running after them, and inquiring alter the health of their 
wives and children. I do not think the Senator from Kentucky 
[Mr. Davis] will be examining their pelvis or shins, <>r making 
speeches about the formation of their lips, or the angle of their 
foreheads on the floor of the Senate. You will then see the De- 
mocracy, with the keen -cent that always distinguishes that party, 
on the hunt alter the votes of these black men. [laughter;] and 
if they treat them better than the Republicans do, they will 
probably gel their votes, and 1 hope they will. 

•• And it will he just so down in these rebel State-. Give the 
negroes of Virginia the right to vote, and y>n will find ^ ise and 
Letcher and the whole tribe of the secessionists undertaking 
prove that from the landing at Jamestown in l'*>-<> the first fam- 
ilies of the Old Dominion have always been the champions and 
the special friends of the negroes of Old Virginia, and that there 
i- a great deal of kindred between them, [laughter;] that they 
are relations, brethren; that the same red blood courses in the 
vein.- «»f many of them. They will establish all these thin.-, per- 
haps by affidavits. | Laughter.] And 1 say to you, sir, they will 
have a good opportunity to get a good many of their vol •-. tin - in 
these respects they have the advantage of us poor Republicans." 

Of the pending amendment, Mr. llen.lri.k- -aid: "1 propose 



NEGRO SUFFR IGE. 409 

to vote for it, not because 1 am in favor, as a general propo- 
sition, of an intelligence qualification for the right to vote, but 
I icause in this particular instance, I think it to be proper to 
prescribe it.'' 

"I shall vote,'' said Mr. Lane, "to enfranchise the colored 
residents of this District because I believe it is right, just, and 
proper; because I believe it is in accordance with those two grand 
central truths around which cluster every hope for redeemed hu- 
manity, the common fatherhood of God above us and the brother- 
hood of universal mankind." 

••The hill for Impartial Suffrage in the District of Columbia," 
said Mr. Sumner, "concerns directly some twenty thousand col- 
ored persons, whom it will lift to the adamantine platform of 
equal rights. If it were regarded simply in its bearings on the 
District it would he difficult to exaggerate its value; but when it 
is regarded as an example to the whole country under the sanc- 
tion of Congress, its value is infinite. It is in the latter character 
that it becomes a pillar of fire to illumine the footsteps of millions. 
What we do here will be done in the disorganized States. There- 
fore, we must be careful that what we do here is best for the dis- 
organized Stat'-. 

" When I am asked to open the suffrage to women, or when I 
am asked to establish an educational standard, I can not on the 
present bill simply because the controlling necessity under which 
we act will not allow it. By a singular Providence we are now 
con-trained to this measure of enfranchisement for the sake of 
peace, security, and reconciliation, so that loyal persons, white or 
black, may he protected and that the Republic may live. Here 
in the District of Columbia we begin the real work of reconstruc- 
tion by which the Union will be consolidated forever." 

The question was taken upon Mr. Dixon'- amendment, which 
was lost; eleven voting for, and thirty-four against the proposi- 
tion. The vote was then taken upon the bill to regulate the 
•tive franchise in the District of Columbia. It passed the 
Senate, thirty-two voting in the affirmative, and thirteen in the 
negative. 

On the following day, December 14th, the bill came before the 
House of Representatives and passed without discussion; one 
hundred and eighteen voting in the affirmative, and forty-six in 
the negative. 



500 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 

7th of January, the President returned the bill I 
Senati »ith his objections. The Veto Message was immediately 
read '■ - eretary of the Senate. 

The President's first objection to the bill was that it was □ 
in accordance with the wishes of the people to whom it was to 
apply, they having "solemnly ami with such unanimity" pro- 
it. 

It seemed to the President that Congress sustained a relation 
to the inhabitants of tli* - District of Columbia analogous to that 
<>t';i legislature t<> the people of a State, ami "should have a like 
i. ;• i for th<' will and interests of it- inhabitants." 

Without actually bringing the charge of unconstitutionality 
against this measure, the President declared "that Congress i- 
bound to observe the letter ami spirit of the ( institution, a- well 
in the enactment of local law- for the Seat of Government, a- in 
legislation common to the entire Union." 

■ 

The Civil Rights Bill having become a law, it was. in 
opinion of the President, a sufficient protection for the negro. 
•• h can not l.e urged," said he. "that the proposed extension of 
suffrage in the District of Columbia is necessary to enable persona 
of color to protect either their interests or their righl 

The President argued that tin- negroes were unfitted for the 
exercist of the elective franchise, ami "can not be expected cor- 
rectly to comprehend the duties and responsibilities which pertain 
to suffrage. It follow-, therefore, that in admitting to the ballot- 
bos a new class of voters not qualified for the - of the 
elective franchise, we weaken our system of government instead 
of adding to it- strength ami durability. It may !>e safely as- 
sumed that m» political truth i- better established than that such 
indiscriminate and all-embracing extension of popular -utTr. 
inu-t . ml at la-t in it- destruction." 

The President occupied a considerable portion of hi- Mess 
with a warning to the people against the dangers oftheal.n-e.pt' 
legislative power. He quoted from Judge Story that the legis- 
lative I. ranch may absorb all the power- of the government. lie 
quoted also the language of Mr. Jefferson that one hundred and 
enty tyrants are more dangerous than one tyrant. 

The statements of the President in opposition to the hill w 
characterized by Mr. Sherman a- "but a r of the arguments 



NEGRO SUFFRAGE. 501 

already adduced in the Senate," hence but little efforl was made 
by the friends of the measure to reply. 

Mr. Sherman, in noticing the President's statements in regard 
to the danger of invasions by Congress of the just powers of the 
executive and judicial departments, said, "I do not think that 
there is any occasion tor >ur]\ a warning, because I am not aware 
that in this hill Congress has ever assumed any doubtful power. 
The power of Congress over this District is without limit, and, 
therefore, in prescribing who shall vote for mayor mid city coun- 
cil of this city it can not he claimed that we usurp power or exer- 
cise a doubtful power. 

"There can be but little danger from Congress; for our acts 
are but the reflection of the will of the people. The recent acts 
of Congress at the last session, those act- upon which the Presi- 
dent and Congress separated, were submitted to the people, and 
they decided in favor of Congress. Unless, therefore, there i- an 
inherent danger from a republican government, resting solely 
upon the will of the people, there is no occasion for the warning 
of the President. Unless the judgment of one man is better 
than the combined judgment of a great majority, he should have 
1 their decision, and not continue a controversy in which 
our common constituency have decided that he was wrong." 

The last speech, before taking the vote, was made by Mr. Doo- 
little. "Men speak," said he, " of universal negro suffrage as 
having been spoken in favor of in the late election. There is not 
a State in this Union, outside of Xew England, which would vote 
in favor of universal negro suffrage. When gentlemen tell me 
that the people of the whole North, by any thing that transpired 
in the late election, have decided in favor of universal, un- 
qualified negro suffrage, they assume that ti>r which there is no 
foundation whatever." 

The question being taken whether the bill should pass over the 
President's veto, the Senate decided in the affirmative by a vote 
of twenty-nine yeas to ten nays. 

The next day, January 8th, the bill was passed over the veto 
by the House of Representatives, without debate, by a vote of 
one hundred and thirteen yea- to thirty-eight nays. The Speaker 
then declared that notwithstanding the objections of the President 
he United State-, the act to regulate the elective franchise in 
the District of Columbia had become a law. 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGEE 



EAPTEE XXII. 

J in: MILITARY RECONSTRUCTION ACT. 

.v Mr. Stevens — "Piratical Governj R 

NKED — The Military Featuri I ed — Mr. Schopield's Doc— The 

( 'my Bope of Mr. His shersation Concerning the 

jmittee — Censure of a Member — A Military Bill Reported— V 
Predicted— The "Blaine . ent" — Bill P ss - the Hoi se— In the 

- vn . ; — Proposition to Amend — Mr McDougall i 1 Liberty <>l> 

- bch— Mr. Doolittle Pleads for the Life of the Republic- 
Sherman's Amendment — Passage in the Senate — Discussion ind n ■•- 

icurrence in the House — The Senate [Jnyieldini — Qualified ; 

CURRENCE OF Till: HOUSE— The VETO — "THE PuNERAL 01 I NATION*'— ^ 

The Act — Supplementary Legislation. 

fNOON after the passage of the bill extending the elective 
l^ franchise in the District of Columbia, G occu- 

pied in devising and discussing a practical and efficient 
measure for the reconstruction of the rebel States. The germ 
of the great " Act for tin- more efficient government of the rebel 
States" i- ti> be found in the previous session ■ >!' Congress in ;i 
proposition made by Mr. Stevens on the 28th <»!' May "to enable 
thf States lately in rebellion to regain their privileges in the 
I ■ ion." 

The Constitutional Amendment had been eliminated in the 
Senate of features which Mr. Steven- regarded a- of great im- 
portance. There was an indisposition on the part of the House 
to declaring by an acl of Congress that the reb I States should 
he restored on the sole condition of their accepting ami ratifying 
thi Constitutional Amendment. The hill proposed by Mr. Stevens 
was designed by it- author a- a plan of restoration t<> take the 
place of the proposition which accompauied the Constitutional 
endment. This hill rec ignized the •'■ ft do State governments 
at the South a- valid "for municipal purposes." It required 
the President to issue a proclamation within six months calling 



MIL I T. 1 R 1 * R ;■:< 'ONSTRUt 'T/o.Y . I CT. & 03 

conventions to form legitimate State constitutions, which should 
be ratified by the people. All male citizens above twenty-one 

years <>(' age should be voters, and should be eligible to mem- 
bership in these constitutional conventions. All pet-sons who 
held office under the "government called the Confederate States 
of America/' or swore allegiance thereto, were declared to have 
forfeited their citizenship, and were required to be naturalized 
as foreigners before being allowed to vote. All citizens should 
he placed upon an equal footing in the reorganized States. 

On the 28th of July, the last day n\' the session, Mr. Stevens 
brought this bill to the notice of the House, without demanding 
any action upon it. He made a solemn and affecting appeal to 
the House, and insisted upon it as the great duty of Congress to 
give all loyal men, white and black, the means of self-protection. 
"In this, perhaps my final action," said he. "on this great ques- 
tion, upon careful review, I can see nothing in my political course, 
especially in regard to human freedom, which 1 could wish to have 
expurged or changed." 

On the 19th of December, 1866, a few days after the reassem- 
bling of Congress for the second session, Mr. Stevens called up 
his hill for the purpose of amending it and putting it in proper 
shape for the consideration of Congress after the hollidays. 

On the 3d of January, 18(37, Mr. Stevens addressed the IL 
in favor of his plan of reconstruction. "This hill.'' said he. " i- 
designed to enable loyal men, so far as E could discriminate 
them in these States, to form governments which shall be in 
loyal hands, and may protect them from outrages." 

As an amendment to this hill, Mr. Ashley, chairman of the 
Committee on Territories, offered a substitute which was in- 
tended to establish provisional governments in the rebel State-. 

Mr. Pike brought in review before the House three modes 
of dealing with the rebel States which had been proposed for 
the consideration and decisiou of Congress. The firs! was the 
immediate admission of the States into a full participation in 
the Government, treating them as if they had never been in 
rebellion. The second was "the let-alone policy, which would 
merely refuse them representation until they had adopted the 
constitutional amendments." The third mode was "the imme- 
diate action by Congress in superseding tin' governments of 
those State- set up by the President in 1865, and establishing 



504 THE THIRTY-XINTR COXGRESS. 

in their plao rnments founded upon loyalty and universal 

suffrage. The policy last mentioned was ad 1 by Mr. 

Pike. •■ h has got to be time for action," said he, "if we arc 
to fulfill the reasonable expectations of the country during the 
life of this < "ongn --." 

On the Tih of January Mr. Stevens proposed to amend his 
bill by inserting a provision that no person should be disfran- 
chised as a punishment for any crime other than insurrection 
or treason. II.' gave as a reason for proposing this amendment 
that in North Carolina, and other States where punishment at 
the whipping-post deprives the person of the right to vote, they 
were every day whipping negroes for trivial offenses. Be had 
heard of one county where the authorities had whipped every 
adult negro they knew of. 

On the 8th of January a speech was made by Mr. Broomall 
advocating the passage of the bill before the Bouse. "Can the 

gro in the South preserve his civil rights without political 
ones-.'*' he asked. "Let the convention riot of New Orleans 
answer; let the terrible three days in Memphis answer. In the 
latter city three hundred negroes, who had periled their lives in 
the service of their country, and still wore its uniform, were 
compelled to look on while the officers of the law. elected by 
white men. set their dwellings in (lames and tired upon their 
wives and children as they escaped from the doors and window-. 
Their churches and school-houses were burned because they were 
their churches and school-houses. Yet no arrest, no conviction, 
no punishment await- the perpetrators of these tlc<U. who walk 
in open day and boast of their enormities, because, forsooth, this 
is a white man'- < rovernment." 

On the Kith of .January the discussion was resumed. Mr. 
Paine first addressed the Bouse. Be opposed th< id section 

of the bill, which aized the rf« J governments of the 

rebel States as valid for municipal purposes. " 1 am surprised," 
said he, "that the gentleman from Pennsylvania should be ready. 
voluntarily, to assume this burden of responsibility i'^r the anar- 
chy of murder, robbery, and arson which reigns in these - »-call d 
del governments. Be may be able to get this fearful burden 
upon hi- back; but if he docs, 1 warn him of the danger that 
the sands of his life will all run out before he will he able to 
it off. Be will have these piratical governments on hi- 



. MIL IT All 1 ' E EC '(). \ 'S Til UCTION AC T. 6 t >■" 

hands voluntarily recognized as valid for municipal purp< 
until duly altered. He will have gratuitously become a copart- 
ner in the guilt which hitherto has rested upon the souls of 
Andrew Johnson and his Northern and Southern satellites, but 
which thenceforth will rest on his soul also until he can contrive 
duly to alter these governments. And so it will happen that the 
great Union party to which he belongs, and to which 1 belong, 
will become implicated, for how long a time God only knows, 
in this unspeakable iniquity which daily and hourly cries to 
Heaven from every rood of rebel soil for vengeance on these 
monsters." 

Air. Bingham moved to refer the two bills — that of Mr. 
Stevens and that of Mr. Ashley— to the Committee on Recon- 
struction. He opposed these bills as "a substantial denial of 
the right of the great people who saved this republic by arms 
to save it by fundamental law." lie advocated the propriety 
of making the proposed Constitutional Amendment the basis of 
reconstruction. It had already received the ratification of the 
Legislatures representing not less than twelve millions of the 
people of this nation. The fact that all the rebel States which 
had considered the amendment in their Legislatures had rejected 
it did not invalidate this mode of reconstruction. "Those in- 
surrectionary States," said he, "have no power whatever as 
State- of this Union, and can not lawfully restrain, for a single 
moment, that great body of freemen who cover this continent 
from ocean to ocean, now organized States of the Union and 
represented here, in their fixed purpose and undoubted legal 
right to incorporate the amendment into the Constitution of the 
United States." 

Mr. Bingham maintained that Congress has the power, with- 
out restriction by the Executive or the Supreme Court, to "pro- 
pose amendments to the Constitutions, and to decide finally the 
question of the ratification thereof, as well as to legislate for the 
nation."' "I look upon both these bills," said Mr. Bingham, 
"as a manifest departure from the spirit and intent of our Con- 
stitutional Amendment. I look upon it as an attempt to take 
away from the people of the State- lately in rebellion that pro- 
tection which you have attempted to secure to them by your 
Constitutional Amendment." 

Mr. Dawson, in a speech of an hour'- duration, maintained 



50 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGEES 

the doctrine, which he announced a- that which had given shape 
to presidential policy, that the attempt at secession having be< o 
suppressed by the physical power of the Government, th 
whose authority was usurped by the parties to the movement, 
have never, at any time, been out of the Union; and that hav- 
ing once expressed their acquiescence in the result of the con 
and renewed their allegiance to the Union, they are, at the same 
time, restored to all the rights and duties of the adhering Stat 

On the other hand, the policy of Congress, in the opinion of 
Mr. Dawson, was "a shameless outrage upon justice and every 
conservative principle," — a "usurpation of Federal powers and a 
violation of State rights/' 

Mr. Maynard gave expression to his opinions by asking the 
significant question, 4i Whether the men who went into the re- 
bellion did not by connecting themselves "with a foreign govern- 
. b) every act of which they were capable, denude themselves 
of their citizenship — whether they are not to be held and taken 
by this Government now as men denuded of their citizenship, 
having no rights as citizens except such as the legislative power 
of this Governmenl may choose to confer upon them'.' In othei 
word-, is not the question on our part one of enfranchisement, 
not of disfranchisement '.' " 

On the 17th of January, Mr. Baker addressed the House in 
favor of referring the pending bill to the Committee on Recon- 
struction, lie was opposed to the use of the term "Govern- 
," without qualification or restriction, as applied to the lately 
revolted States, lie opposed the second section, as causing the 
d, facto governments to become valid for municipal purposes 
long before the scheme of reconstruction contemplated by the bill 
uated. "' I recognize them in ad van . id lie, "would 
be to incur the clanger of further embarrassing the whole subject 
!>y the il logic »f our own illogical procedure." 

At this stage Mr. Stevens arose and modified his substitute by 
withdrawing the second section, which contained the provision 
I to by Mr. Baker as well as by his "ardent friend" Mr. 
Paine. Mr. Baker objected to that feature of the bill which pro- 
vided thai none should be deprived of the right to vote : 
punishment for any crime save insurrection or treason. " Che 
penitentiaries of thesi ." said he, "might disgorge their in- 

mate- upon the polls under the operation of this bill." 



MIL I T. IRY R ECO. \ 'S 77/ UCTIOK A CT. 507 

Mr. Grinnell was opposed to sending the question to the Com- 
mittee on Reconstruction. He did not think it the mosl modest 
proposition in the world for Mr. Bingham to urge the reference 
to his committee of a great question which the House generally 
desired to consider. " Let us have no delay," said he, "no re- 
commitment, rather the earliest action upon this bill, as the 
requirement of the people who have saved the country, what the 
suffering implore, what justice demands, and what I believe; God 
will approve." 

" It is to my mind most clear," .said Mr. Donnelly, in a speech 
upon the pending question, "that slavery having ceased to exist, 
the slaves became citizens; being citizens they are a part of the 
people, and being a part of the people no organization deserves 
a moment's consideration at our hands which attempts to ignore 
them." 

Of the Southern States as under rebel rule, Mr. Donnelly re- 
marked : "The whites are to make the laws, execute the laws, 
interpret the laws, and write the history of their own deeds ; but 
below them, under them, there is to be a vast population — a ma- 
jority of the whole people — seething and writhing in a condition 
of suffering, darkness, and wretchedness unparalleled in the 
world. And this is to be an American State! This is to he a 
component part of the great, humane, Christian republic of the 
world." 

" It i< hard," said Mr. Eldridge, in a speech against the bill, 
"sad to stand silently by and see the republic overthrown. It 
is indeed appalling to those accustomed from early childhood to 
ivv< re and love the Constitution, to feel that it is in the keeping 
of those having the power and determination to destroy it. With 
the passage of this bill must die every hope and vestige of the 
government of the Constitution. It is indeed the final breaking 
up and dissolution of the union of the States by the usurpation 
and revolutionary act of Congress." 

"Your work of restoration," said Mr. Warner, "will never 
commence until the Congress of the United State- assumes to be 
one of the departments of the General Government. It will 
never commence until you have declared, in the language of the 
Supreme Court, that the Executive, a- commander-in-chief of 
the army and navy, 'can not exercise a civil function.' 

"In less than two brief year- of office," -aid Mr. Warner, 



608 THE THIRTY-NINTB CONGRESS. 

speaking of the President, "he has exercised more questionable 
pow - unci more doubtful constitutional functions, obliter- 

ated more constitutional barriers, and interposed more corrupt 
schemes to the expression of the popular sentiment or will of the 
people than all other Executives since the exisl ' 

eminent." 

Mr. Spalding feared that the bill, should it become a law, 
would be found defective in uot affording any protection to that 
loyal class of the inhabitants of those communities upon whom 
the elective franchise was conferred. "These colored men," said 
he, "who arc now recognized by the Government as possessing 
the rights of freemen, are to be in jeopardy of being shot down 
like so many dogs when they attempt to visit the polls." He 
then offered an amendment, which was accepted by Mr. Stevens, 
by which a section was added to the bill suspending the writ of 
habeas corpus in the ten rebel Mate-, and placing them under 
martial law until they should be admitted to representation in 
Congress under the provisions of the bill. In this - ion thus 
introduced may be seen the origin of that feature which, in an 
enlarged and extended form, gave character to the importaut 
measure ultimately adopted by Congress, which i- popularly 
known as the " Military Reconstruction Bill." 

The discussion was continued by Mr. Koontz. ' It i- a 
solemn, imperative duty." .-aid he, "that this nation owes I 
colored people to protect them against their own ami the nati 

It would be a burning, lasting disgrace to the nation were it 
to hand them over to their enemies. 1 know of no way in which 
this protection can he better given than by exteuding to them 
the elective franchise. Place the ballot in the hand- <>\ the black 
man and you give him that which insures him respecl a- well as 

proteel i' m." 

Mr. Schofield maintained that the ratification of the < on-titu- 
tional Amendment by three-fourths of the loyal S was all 

that w. ry. "Twenty-three of the twenty-six States 

elected Legislatures instructed to adopt it. Very soon these 
tw.nty-three State-, having a population in I860 of twenty-one 
million live hundred thousand, and no: less than twenty-seven 
million- now, will -end to a perfidious S ry the official evi- 

dence of the peopl,'- will. Delaware, Maryland, ami Kentucky 
alone give a negative answer. Who, then, stands in the way? 



mil i r. iey n ::<■ u i ^ 's tr i '■ ' n ok A ct. 5 no 

One old man who is charged by law with the duty of proclaim- 
ing the adoption of the amendment, bur who has determined to 
incorporate into the Union the debris of the late Confederacy — 
he -lands in the way." 

" The Secretary is clever in work of this kind. An English 
nobleman was at one time exhibiting his kennel to an American 
friend, and passing by many of his showiest bloods, they came 
upon one that seemed nearly used up. ' This,' said the nobleman, 
'is the most valuable animal in the pack, although he is old, 
lame, blind, and drat".' 'Mow is that?' inquired the visitor. 
The nobleman explained: 'His education was good, to begin 
with, and his wonderful sense of smell is still unimpaired. We 
only take him out to catch the scent, and put the puppies on the 
track, and then return him to the kennel. ' Do not suppose that 
1 intend any comparison between the Secretary of State and that 
veteran hunter. Such a comparison would be neither dignified 
nor truthful, because the Englishman went on to say, '! have 
owned that doe- for thirteen years, and, hard as he look-, he never 
hit the hand that fed him nor barked on a false trail.'" 

The laughter and applause which followed, were cheeked by 
the Speaker's gavel, which Mr. Schofield mistook for a notice to 
quit. "Has my time expired?" asked he. "It has not," re- 
plied the Speaker. "The Chair called you to order." said Mr. 
Stevens, in his seat, "for doing injustice to the dog." 

Mr. Ward, who next addressed the House, presented a novel 
theory of the rebel war. "The people of the South," said he, 
"did not make war upon our republican form of government, nor 
seek to destroy it ; they only soughl to make two republics out of 
one. They are now, and have keen all the time, as much attached 
to our system of \'rw republican government as those who abuse 
them for disloyalty." 

Mr. Ward presented his view of the state of things which 
would result from the passage of the pending bill. " These negro 
judges," said he, "will -it and hold this election backed by the 
United States army. That i- rather an elevated position for the 
new-made freed ma n ; the habeas corpus suspended, martial law 
proclaimed, the army at the back of the negro conducting an elec- 
tion to reconstruct States." 

Mr. lMant- addressed the House in favor of the pending bill. 
Of the reception given by the rebels to the proposed constitutional 



510 THE THIRTY-WINTR CONGRESS. 

amendment, he said: "They have nol only refused to accept the 
more than generous terms proposed, but have- rejected them with 
contumely, and with the haughty and insulting bravado of 
sumi I n:\ demand that the nation shall submit to such 

terms as they shall dictate." 

Mr. -Miller, while advocating the pending measure, favored its 
reference to the Committee on Reconstruction. He a a de- 
tailed accounl of the Constitutional Amendment, and it- prog 
toward ratification among the Legislatures. He showed that the 
progress of reconstruction was delayed through fault of the v. 
themselves. " It is not the desire of the great Republican party," 
said he, "to retard the restoration of those ten State- to full polit- 
ical rights, but on the contrary they are anxious for a speedy ad- 
justment, in order to secure adequate protection to all class - and 
conditions of men residing therein, and at the same time afford 
ample security to the United State- Government against any 
future refractory course that might be pursued on the part of 
those Stab 

On the 21s1 of January the discussion was resumed by Mr. 
Kerr in a speech against the bill. He quoted extensively from 
judicial decisions and opinions to show that the rebel States wire 
-•ill entitled to their original rights in the Union. " The undis- 
guised and most unrighteous purpose of all this kind of legisla- 
tion/' said he, " is to usurp powers over those States that can Bud 
no warrant except in the fierce will of the dominant party in this 
Congress. It is alike at war with every principle of good and 
free government, and with the highest dictates of humanity and 
national fraternity." 

Mr. Higby was in favor of the pending bill, and opposed its 
reference to the Committee on Reconstruction. He preferred 
that ii should be retained in the House, when' it could be 
changed, matured, and finally passed. He contended that the 
rebel States should not come into the Union under any milder con- 
ditions than those imposed upon Territories recently pass< I upon 
in Congress. " Impartial suffrage," -aid he, " i- required of< 
of those Territories as a condition precedent to their becoming 

State-; and >hall Smith Carolina, upon this basis of reconstruc- 
tion, become a part of this Union upon different terms and 
principl - entirely from those implied by the votes we have just 
given '.' '* 



MI LIT. iR Y R EC '0, \ 'S TR I T CTIO. \ ' ACT 511 

Mr. Trimble denounced the pending legislation in violent 
terms. "By this act/ 5 said he, "you dissolve their connection 
with the Government of the United States, blot them out of ex- 
istence as freemen, and degrade them to the condition of negro 
commonwealths. We have this monstrous proposition: to de- 
clare martial law in ten State.- of this Union; and in making 
this declaration, we, in my judgment, step upon the mangled 
ruins of the Constitution; for the Constitution plainly gives this 
power neither to the executive nor the legislative department of 
the Government." 

Mr. Dodge, although a Republican, and in favor of" protecting 
the best interests of the colored man," could not vote for either 
of the propositions before the House. "The result of the pas- 
sage of this bill," said he, " if it shall become operative, will be 
to disfranchise nearly the entire white population of the Southern 
States, and at the same time enfranchise the colored people and 
give them the virtual control in the proposed organization of the 
new State governments." 

Mr. Dodge was particularly opposed to the military feature 
proposed by Mr. Spalding. " This is not likely," said he, " in 
the nature of things, to bring about an early reorganization of 
the South. The commercial, the manufacturing, and the agricul- 
tural interests of this country, as they look at this matter, will 
see in it a continuance of taxation necessary to support this mili- 
tary array sent to these ten States." 

"This bill, if executed," said Mr. Hise, in the course of a 
speech against the measure, "will in effect establish corrupt and 
despotic local governments for all those States, and place in all 
the offices the most ignorant, degraded, and corrupt portion of 
their population, who would rule and ruin without honesty or 
skill the actual property-holders and native inhabitants, making 
insecure lite, liberty, and property, and still holding those States 
in their Federal relations subject to the most rapacious, fierce, 
and unrelenting despotism that ever existed, that of a vindictive 
and hostile party majority of a Congress in which they have no 
voice or representation, and by which irresponsible majority they 
would be mercilessly oppressed for that very reason ; and this will 
be continued, I fear, until the country shall again be precipitafc 1 
into civil war." 

Since the "beneficent conservative power" of the President was 



512 THE THIRTY-NINTR C 

overcome by two-thirds of C --. Mr. Hise could s 

th a ion in but one direction. "Our only hope," said lie, "of 
ition of a free government is in the judicial department 
of the government, and in the decisions of tin.' Suprem 
pronouncing your acts unconstitutional and void." 

Mr. Raymond preferred the Constitutional Amendm 
basi.« of reconstruction, and blamed the party in power for aban- 
doning thai . '• Last year," said he, "that man was un 

is party obligations who did not stand by it: this year the 
man is declared to be faithless to his party who <! 

Having spoken at considerable length against the pending 
measure, Mr. Raymond said: " For these reasons, sir, re; 
policy and of authority, 1 do nol think we ought to pass this 
bill. 1 do not believe it would beat all effective in securing the 
objects at which we aim, or that it would conduce in the slight- 
est d to promote peace and secure equal rights among the 
people upon whom it i- to take effect. And 1 can not help be- 
lieving that it contains provisions directly at war with specific 
and peremptory prohibitions of the Constitution." 

.Mi'. Raymond defended the Secretary of State against the ac- 
cusations of Mr. Schofield. Mr. Seward was not "a perfidious 
old man," hut one "venerable, not more forage than for tin 
nal services to his country and the cause of freedom every-where, 
by which his long and laborious life, devoted whollv, from early 

manli 1, to the public service, has been made illustrious." The 

ry of State acted under law. [f Congress expected him 
to act under the theory that three-fourtli6 of the loyal States 
ifficient l''<v the ratification of the Constitutional Amend- 
ment, they should pass a law to that effect. 

••The man, - ' s :l id Mr. Shellabarger, "who is now the acting 
! ' ident of the United States, once said to me, in speaking of a 
bill like the one now before the House, that it was a measure to 
dissolve the Union. Thai proposition lias been so often repeated 
by members upon the other side of this hall, that 1 have thought 
the House would probably pardon me it' 1 should attempt to 
condense into a few sentences a suggestion or two in regard to 
that declaration, repeated so often and worn out so thoroughly 
a- it i~. 

Mi-. Shell •• maintained the right of governments to with- 

■ 

hold from thosj who discard all the obligations pertaining to their 



MIL 1 T, 1 1! ) • 11FJ '0. \ W 77/ UCTIOX . 1 CT. 5 IS 

citizenship the powers ami rights which come alone from perform- 
ing these obligations. "This identical principle," said lie, " w 
asserted at the origin of your Government in the legislation of 
every one of the States of the Confederation; was repeated and 
re nacted by three, at least, of the first Congresses under the 
Constitution, and has been virtually reenacted by being kept in 
force by every subsequent Congress which ever met under the 
( ''institution." 

" I see such diversity of opinion on this side of the House," 
said Mr. Stevens, "upon any question of reconstruction, that, if 
I do not change my mind, I shall to-morrow relieve the House 
from any question upon the merits of this bill by moving to lav 
it on the table." 

On the 26th of January the discussion was renewed. Mr. 
Ross, considering the argument on the constitutionality of the 
measure exhausted, endeavored to show that the bill was "in 
clear conflict with the action of the party in power during the 
entire progress of the war, and in conflict with the clearly-ex- 
pressed (.pinions of the Executive of the nation, the Supreme 
( !ourt, and the Congress of the United States." 

Mr. Ashley withdrew his amendment to Mr. Stevens' bill 
that the House might, in Committee of the Whole, have an 
opportunity to perfect the bill so as to send it to the Senate 
within two or three days. 

'■ [ ask the gentleman," said Mr. Conkling, "to state his ob- 
jection to having a subject like this committed to a committee 
which has now no work upon its hands, and which has a right 
to report at any time." 

"The Committee on Reconstruction," replied Mr. A-hlev, 
••have held no meetings during this entire session up to this 
hour. Several hills proposed by gentlemen have been referred 
to that committee during this session, upon which, they have 
taken no action. If the committee ever gets together again — 
which I doubt, as it is a large committee, composed of both 
branches of Congress— I have hut little hope of their being able 
to agree. The chairman of the committee on the part of the 
Senate, as is well known, is absorbed in his efforts to perfect the 
financial measures of the country, and I fear that if this hill 
_ ies to that committee it will go to its grave 3 and that it will 
not, during the life of the Thirty-ninth Congress, see the light. 
33 



51A THE Till A' '/)•-. \ 7. \ 77/ CONGRESS. 



If I were opposed t<> these Mil-. I would vote to send them t" 
thai commitl - sending them t.. their tomb." 

"There i- no difficulty," responded .Mr. Conkling, "in having 
prompt consideration of any thing which may be to tic- 

committee. Ii was created originally solely t<> deal with this 
subject, h was, at first, broken into tour sub-committees, thai 
the work of gathering evidence might be more advantageously 
and speedily carried on. It became one committee, usually 
working together, only during a few weeks immediately preced- 
ing tin- bringing forward <>l' it- ultimate propositions. It would 
not li :■ decorous for me to praise the committee or the work it 
did, but I may say with propriety that it' it ever was a good 
committee, it' it ever should have been created and composed as it 
was. it is a good committee now — better than it ever was before; 
better, because more familiar with this subject, because it- mem- 
bers, having now become acquainted with cadi other's views, 
ami having become accustomed to aci with each other, and hav- 
ing studied the whole subject committed to them, can proceed 
with much more hope of good results than ever before. Saving 
a right to report at any time, and being led, on the part of this 
House, by the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. 
Stevens], 1 see no reason why it can not consider and digest wisely 
and promptly whatever may be referred to it and make report." 

"We are now considering a report from that very conunittei 
said Mr. Stevens. "That committee made a report, and 1 have 
offered a substitute for the hill which they reported. It' the 
gentleman think- the report of that committee i- best, then let 
him vote against my substitute. But why -end this subject hack 
again to the committee? The gentleman knows as well as I 
do how many different opinion- there arc in that committee; 
some of us believe in one thing, and some of us in another: 
some of us are very critical, and some of us are not. The idea 
that we can consider any thing in that committee, constituted as 
it is, in less than a fortnight, it seems to me is wholly out of 
the question; and as we have only about some twenty working 
day- in which to mature thi< hill in both branches of < tongress, 
it' we -end this subject to that committee and let it take it< time 
to consider it, and then have it reported here and considered 
again, 1 certainly need not say to gentlemen that that would he 
an end of the matter, at least for this - ssion." 



Ml LIT. Lin- RECONSTRUCTION ACT 515 

" The gentleman from Pennsylvania concurred in thai report," 
replied Mr. Conkling. "He had his full -hare in molding it 
and making it precisely what it was. Be supported it then ; 
now he offers a substitute for it. Why? Because the time 
which has elapsed since then, and the events which have tran- 
spired, have modified, he thinks, the exigencies of the case. Is 
not that as applicable to the judgment of the committee as to 
his own".' Is it not proper that it should have the opportunity 
of acting for once in the light of all the facts and circumstances 
as they are to day?" 

"Two or three bills on this subject. "* said Mr. Stevens, "have 
been referred during this session to that committee. Why has 
not the committee acted on them?" 

"If I were the chairman of the committee on the part of this 
House," replied Mr. Conkling, I should be able to answer that 
question, because then I could tell why I had not called the 
committee together. But as I am only a subordinate member 
of the committee, whose business it is to come when I am called, 
and never to call others, I am entirely unable to give the infor- 
mation for which the gentleman inquires." 

"If I could have any assurance," said Mr. Ashley, "that this 
committee would be able to report promptly a bill upon which 
this House could probably agree, I would not hesitate a single 
moment to vote for the reference of this measure to that com- 
mittee; but, believing that they will be unable to agree, I -hall 
vote against a recommitment." 

In describing the character of the opposition arrayed against 
the Congressional plan of reconstruction. Mr. Ashley used the 
following emphatic language: "Why, sir. the assumption, the 
brazen-faced assumption of men who during the entire war 
were in open or secret alliance with the rebels, coming here now 
and joining hand- with the apostate at the other end of the 
avenue, who is the leader, the recognized leader of a counter- 
revolution — a negative rebellion, as I said awhile ago — passes 
comprehension." 

. "If intended to apply to us," said Mr. Winfield, speaking for 
the Democratic members, "it is a base and unfounded slander.'* 

••So far as I am concerned, it is a base lie." 3a id Mr. Hunter. 
For using these words, "condemned by gentlemen every-where, as 
well as by parliamentary law," the House passed a vote of censure 



516 THE THIRTY-NINTH. CONGRESS. 

on Mr. Hunti r, and he was required to go forward and receive a 
public reprimand from the Speaker. 

< )n the 28th of January, the House having resumed the con- 
sideration of the bill to restore to the rebel States their full politi- 
cal rights, Mr. Julian expressed his belief that the time had con 
for action, and that having the greal subject before them, t! 
should proceed earnestly, and with littL delay, to mature so 
measure which would meet the demand of the people. " Lei us 
toler ite no further procrastination," said he ; " and while we justly 
hold the President responsible for the trouble and mal-ad minis- 
tration which now curse the South and disturb the peace of ;. 
country, let us remember that the national odium already per- 
petually linked with the name of Andrew Johnson will be shared 
by us it* we fail in the greal duty which i- now brought to our 
door-.** 

Mr. Julian differed with many other- in his opinion ..l' the real 
wain- of the rebel State-. •• What these regions need," -aid he, 
"above all things, is nol an easy and quick return to their for- 
feited rights in the Union, but government, the strong arm of 
power, outstretched from the central authority here in Washings 
ton, making; it safe for the freedmen of the South, safe for her 
loyal white men. safe for emigrants from the Old World and 
from the Northern State- \<> go and dwell there; safe for Northern 
capital and labor, Northern energy and enterprise, and Northern 
idea- to sel up their habitation in peace, and thus found a Chris- 
tian civilization and a living democracy amid the ruin- of the past." 

"It would seem," -aid Mr. Cullom, "that the men who have 
been struggling so hard to destroy this country were and .-till are 
the instruments, however wicked, by which we are driven to give 
the I. lack man justice, whether we will or no. 

•• By the unholy persistence of rebels slavery was at last over- 
thrown. Their contempl of the Constitutional Amendment, now 
before the country, will place in the hand- of every colored man 
of the South the ballot." 

Some amendments having been engrafted upon the hill by the 
acquiescence of Mr. Stevens, the vote was taken on the motion to 
refer t,, the < "onimiitee on Reconstruction, which was agreed to — 
affirmative, eighty-eight; negative, sixty-five. 

The bill thus referred never again saw the light. In place of 
this, the Committee on Reconstruction instructed Mr. Stevens to 



Ml LIT. I R ) ' R EC '<). \ 'S TR UCTIO. V -1 CT. 5 1 7 

report a military bill for the "more efficient government of the 
insurrectionary Stair-." This bill was reported on the <Jlh of 
February in the following form : 

" H the pretended State Governments of the late so-called Confeder- 

ate States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, 
Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas were set up without the 
authority of Congress and without the sanction of the people; and whereas 
said pretended governments afford no adequate protection for life or property, 
but countenance and encourage lawlessness and crime; and whereas it is 
necessary that peace and good order should be enforced in said so-called 
States until loyal and Republican State Governments can be legally estab- 
lished : Therefore, 

■■ /;, it I by the Senate and House of /,' f th V 

Sta -l ■ ■■ a in Congress assembled, That said so-called States shall be 

divided into military districts and made subject to the military authority of 
the United States, as hereinafter prescribed; and for that purpose Virgina 
shall constitute the first district, North Carolina and South Carolina the 
id district, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida the third district, Mississippi 
.ml Arkansas the fourth district, and Louisiana and Texas the fifth district. 

"Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall lie the duty of the Gen- 
eral of the army to assign to the command of each of said districts an officer 
of the regular army not below the rank of brigadier general, and to detail 
a sufficient force to enable such officer to perform his duties and enforce his 
authority within the district to which he is assigned. 

'■Si:.. 3. And be it further en icted, That it shall be the duty of each officer 
assigned, as aforesaid, to protect all persons in their rights of person and 
property, to suppress insurrection, disorder, and violence, and to punish, or 
cause to be punished, all disturbers of the public peace and criminals: and 
to this end he may allow civil tribunals to take jurisdiction of and to try 
lers, or when in his judgment it may be necessary for the trial of 
offenders he shall have power to organize military commissions or tribunals 
for that purpose, any thing in the constitution and laws of the so-called States 
to the contrary notwithstanding; and all legislative or judicial proceedings 
or processes to prevent the trial or proceedings of such tribunals, and till 
interference by said pretended State governments with the exercise of mili- 
tary authority under this act shall be void and of no effect. 

"Sec. -1. And be it further enacted, That courts and judicial officers of the 

Lnio'd States shall not issue writs of habeas corpus in behalf of persons in 

try custody unless some commissioned officer on duty in the district 

wherein the person is detained shall indorse upon said petition a statement 

Certifying upon honor that he has knowledge or information as to the cause 

and circumstances of the alleged detention, and thai he believes the same to 

he rightful; and further, that he belie. the indorsed petition is pre- 

ferred in good faith and in furtherance of justice, and not to hinder or delay 
the punishment of crime. All persons put under military arrest, by virtue 
of this act. -hall he tried without unnecessary delay, and no cruel or unusual 
punishment shall be inflicted. 



513 THE THIRTY-NINTH COJfGRES 

That ii" - v military rum- 

mission or tribunal hereby authorized, :i any 

son, shall be executed until it i- approved by the officer in c • >( 

the district; and the laws and regulations for thi rmy 

chilli not be affected • ipt in so far as thi 

QS." 

Mr. Stevens, having been remonstrated with by a Democratic 
member for exp ^ , ti- bring the question t<i vote with- 

out a prolong* 1 debate; replied: " I am very will' 
debate which has been going on here for three weeks shall all be 
read over by the gentleman whenever he can take time to read 
it." "On behalf of the American people," -aid the same memb 
•• I ask more time for debate." "I will see what the American 
people think of it in the morning. If they are generally for a 
prolongation of the debate, of course I will go with them. l>ut I 
will wait until thenj in order to ascertain what the people want."' 

On the following day, February 7th, Mr. Stevens introduced the 
discussion with a brief speech. "This bill provides," said lie. that 
"the ten disorgani - tes shall be divided into live military 
districts, ami that the commander of thr army shall take chat 
of them through hi- lieutenants a- governors, or you may rail 
them commandants it' you choose, not below the grade of l>ri_ 
diers, who -hall have the general supervision of the peace, quiet, 
ami the protection of the people, loyal ami disloyal, who reside 
within those precincts; ami that to do so he may use, as the law 
of nation- would authorize him to do. thr legal tribunals where- 
ever he may deem them competent ; but they are to be considered 
of no validity per st . of no intrinsic force, no force in consequence 
of their origin, tin- question being wholly within the power of the 
i tqueror, ami to remain until that conqueror -hall permanently 
supply tlnir place with something else. 1 will say, in brief, that 
i- the whole hill. It does not need much examination. < >ne 
night's resl after it- reading is enough to digest it." 

"Of all the various plan-.*' said Mr. Brand ," which have 
been discussed in this hall for the past two ycurs, to my mind 
ii seems the plainest, the most appropriate, the freest from con- 
stitutional objection, and the b -. calculated to accomplish the 
master aim- of reconsl ruction. 

" h begins the work of reconstruction al the right end, and 
employs the right tools for its oent. It begins at the 



MIL J T. IBT R ECO. ^ 'S TR I '< ' TIO. V ACT. 5 19 

point where Gran< left off the work, at Appomattox Court-house, 
and it holds those revolted communities iii the grasp of war until 
the rebellion shall have laid down its spirit, as two years ago it 
formally laid down its arras." 

Mr. LeBlond characterized the Committee on Reconstruction 
as " the maelstrom committee, which swallows up every thing that 
is good and gives out every thing that is evil." 

" There is nothing left," said he, in the conclusion of his speech, 
"but quiet submission to your tyranny, or a resort to arms on 
the part of the American people to defend themselves. 

"I do not desire war; but as one American citizen, I do prefer 
Avar to cowardly submission and total destruction of the funda- 
mental principles of our Government. In my honest conviction, 
nothing but the strong arm of the American people, wielded upon 
the bloody battle-field, will ever restore civil liberty to the 
American people again." 

"Is it possible," said Mr. Finck, "that in this Congress we can 
find men bold enough and bad enough to conspire against the 
right of trial by jury, the great privilege of habeas corpus; men 
who are willing to reverse the axiom that the military should be 
subordinate to the civil power, and to establish the abhorred doc- 
trine resisted by the brave and free men of every age, that the 
military should be superior to the civil authority'.'" 

"It does not seem to me," said Mr. Pike, "that the change 
proposed to be made by this bill in the management of the South- 
ern State- i.- so violent as gentlemen on the other side would have 
ii- suppose. They seem to believe that now the people of those 
States govern themselves; but the truth is, since the suppression 
of the rebellion, that is, since the surrender of the rebel armies in 
1865, tiie government of those State- have been virtually in the 
hands of the President of the United State-. 

"This bill does not transfer the government of those States 
from the people to the officers of the army, but only from the 
President to those officers." 

Mr. Farnsworth, who next addressed the House, gave numer- 
ous authenticated instances of outrages and murders perpetrated 
by rebels upon Union soldiers and citizens. " Tt is no longer a 
question of doubt," said he, "it can not be denied that the loyal 
men, ili- UnioH soldiers and the freedmen in these disorganized 
and disloyal Stat— are not protected. They are murdered with 



520 Tin: Tiiiirrr-.vi.vrii coxgl 

impunity; they are despoiled !- and their property 

they are banished, scattered, driven from the country." 

Mr. Rogers denounced the pending l>ill in most emphatic lan- 
guage. "You will carry tin- conflict on," said In-, '•until you 
bring about a war that will shake this country as with the thr< 
of an earthquake; a war that will cause tin- whole civilized world 
to witness our dreadful shock ami fill nature with agony in all 
her parts, with which the one we have passed through i- not at 
all to In- compared." 

lie eulogized President Johnson in the hig] rms. " 1 

ivernment," said he, "brought him from a poor boy i- at 

a man a- ever lived, and he deserves as much credit as ^ ashing- 

ton and will yet receive it. He will oot submit to have the 

citadel of liberty invaded and destroyed without using tic civil 

> 

and military powers to prevent it. He Mill maintain the Con- 
stitution, sir, even to the spilling of blood." 

Mr. Bingham proposed to amend the lull to make it accord 
with hi- theory by substituting the phrase "the -aid States" for 
the word- ••--called States." W^ also proposed some limitation 

the extent to which the habeas corpus should be suspended. 
••When these men," said he, "shall have fulfilled their obliga- 
tions, and when the great people themselves shall have put. by 
their own rightful authority, into the fundamental law the sub- 
lime decree, the nation's will, that no State shall deny to any 
mortal man the equal protection of the law — not of th< - of 

South Carolina alone, but of the laws national and State, and 
above all, sir, of the great law. the Constitution of our own 
country, which is tin' supreme law of the land, from Georgia to 
Oreeon. and from Maine to Florida — then, sir, by assenting 
thereto those State- may he restored at once. To that end, sir, 
1 labor and for that I -I rive." 

■•1';:! ss tin population of these State-." said Mr. Lawrence, 

'• j- to he left to the merci!e- It lit ■ of the lvhel-. wllO employ the 

color of authority they exercise under illegal but d 

•vernments to oppress all who are loy il without furnishing them 
any protectiou against murder and all the wrongs that rebels can 
inflict on loyal men, we can not, dare not refuse to pa— this bill." 
Since, however, the hill did not propose any " plan of reorgan- 
izing State governments in the late rebel Stat — .** Mr. Lawren 
read amendments which he desired to introduce at the proper 



. )1 TL J T. IBY BECO. \ 'S TR I T CT1 0. V A CT. 2 ! 

time, providing thai the laws of the Districl of Columbia, "nut 

locally inapplicable," should he in force in the rebel territory, 
and that the United States courts should have jurisdiction. 

Mr. Bise declared this a "stupid, cruel, unwise, and unconsti- 
tutional measure." " If I had not been prepared," said he, "by 

other measures hitherto adopted and others hitherto introdu I 
into this House, I should not have been less startled at the intro- 
duction of this than if I had received the sudden intelligence that 
the ten States enumerated in this hill had been sunk by 
great convulsion of nature and submerged under an oceanic 
deluge." 

"This is not, strictly speaking, a measure of reconstruct] 
said Mr. Ingersoll, " but a measure looking simply to the enforce- 
ment of order. It seems to me clear, then, that, not only under 
the laws of war and under the laws of nations, but under the ex- 
press authority of the Constitution itself, Congress possesses the 
rightful authority to establish military governments, as proposed 
by the bill under consideration." 

Referring to Mr. LeBlond's anticipated war, Mr. Ingersoll 
said: "I desire to ask the gentleman where he is going to get 
his soldiers to make war upon the Government and the Congress 
of the United States? You will hardly find th'em in the rebel 
States. They have had enough of war; they have been thor- 
oughly whipped, and do not desire to be whipped again. You 
will not get them from the loyal people of the Northern or South- 
ern States. If you get any at all, you may drum up a few recruits 
from the Democratic ranks, but in the present weak and shattered 
condition of that party you would hardly be able to raise a very 
formidable army, and I tell the gentleman if the party deer 
in the -line ratio in the coming year as it has in the last, the 
whole party together would not form a respectable corps d'ari 

"How about the bread and butter brigade?" interposed a 
member. 

" 1 did not think of that heroic and patriotic band,*' replied 
Mr. Ingersoll, "but I do not apprehend much danger from that 
source; it would be a bloodless conflict; we would have no use 
either for the sword or musket ; all that would be necessary to 
make a conquest over them would be found in the commissary 
department. Order out the bread and butter ami peace would 
he restored." 



THE THIRTY-NIJfTR C0JVG1 

Mr. Shanklin warned 1 1 1 • • House of the danger of establishing 
niilitiiry governments in the South. " You may be in the plen- 
itude of power to-day," he said, in conclusion, "and you may 
be ousted to-morrow. And 1 hope, it' you do nol cease tb - 
outrages upon the people of the country, such as you propose 
here, such as are attempting to be inflicted by your Freedmen's 
Bureau and your Civil Rights Bills, that the rime will not 
he lone before that army which the gentleman from [llinois 
[Mr. [ngersoll] seemed to think could not be raised — an army 
armed with ballots, and not with bayonet — will march to the 
polls and hurl the advocates of this and its kindred tneasui 
out of their places, and fill them with men who app more 

highly and justly the rights of citizens and of freemen, with 
statesmen whose minds can grasp our whole country and its 
rights and its want-, and whose hearts arc in sympathy with 
the noble, the brave, and the just, whether they live in the 
sunny South or the ice-bound regions of the North." 

•• 1 hail this measure," said Mr. Thayer, "as interrupting 
baleful calm, which, if not disturbed by a proper exercise 
legislative power upon this subject, may be succeeded by di.« i 
and collision. It furnishes at least an initial point from which 
we can start in the consideration and adjustment of the . t 
question of reconstruction. I regard this as a measure whi 
lavs the grasp of Congress upon this great question — a grasp 
which is to hold on to it until it shall be finally settled. 1 
regard it as a measure which is to take that great question out 
i f that sea of embarrassment and sluggish inactivity in which, 
through the course which the President has thought proper to 
pursue, it now rests." 

"For our neglect," said Mr. Harding, of [llinois, "to exert 
the military power of the Government, we are responsible for 
the blood and suffering which disgrace this republic. Lei us go 
hack, then, or rather let us come up to where we wen' before, 
and exercise jurisdiction over the territory conquered from the 
i'h Is which jurisdiction the President has given up to tin 
r i real suff and injury of the Government and 

loyal | pie." 

" Let it be remembered all the time," said Mr. Shellabarger, 
" that your country has a righl to its life, and thai the powers 

pour Government ajiven for its preservation. Let it be 



M1L1 T, 1 1! J ' R ECO, YSTE UCTIOjY J CT. 

remembered that one portion of your republic lias fallen into a 
state of rebellion, and is still in a state of war against your 
Government, and that the powers of the Government are to be 
exercised for the purposes of the protection and the defense of 
the loyal, and the disloyal too, in that part of the republic; and 
that, for the purpose of thai defense, you arc authorized to sus- 
pend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, and to exercise 
such extraordinary powers as are accessary to the preservation 
of the great life of the nation. Let these things he remembered; 
and then let it also be remembered that the law-making power of 
the Government not only controls the President, but controls the 
purposes and the ends and the objects of war, and, of course, the 
movements of the armies that are to be employed in war. Let 
these things be remembered, and it seems to me that all the diffi- 
culties with which it is sought to surround this measure will at 
once disappear." 

"What carried our elections overwhelmingly.'" asked Mr. 
Hotchkiss. "It was the story of the Southern refugees told 
to the people of the North and the West, They told us they 
demanded protection. They enlisted the sympathy of Northern 
soldiers by telling that the very guerrillas who hung upon the 
skirts <>!' our army during the war were now murdering Southern 
soldier- who fought on the Union side, and murdering peaceful 
citizens, murdering black men who were our allies. We prom- 
ised the people if we were indorsed we would come back here 
and protect them, -and yet not a step has been taken." 

Mi'. Griswold regretted to vote against a measure proposed by 
those whom he believed to "have at heart the best interest of 
the whole country." "It seems to me," said he, "that the pro- 
visions of this bill will lead us into greater danger than is justified 
by the evils we seek to correct. It is, Mr. Speaker, a tremen- 
dous stride that we propose to make by this hill to subject to 
military control ten million people who have once been partners 
of this common country, and who are to be united with us in 
its future trials and fortunes. This bill proposes to place all the 
rights of life, liberty, and happiness exclusively in the control 
of a mere military captain. This bill contains no provisions 
for the establishment in the future of civil governments there; 
it simply provides that for an indefinite period in the future a 
purely military power shall have exclusive control and jurisdic- 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

tion there. Thai . another and a very serious 

objection to this bill." 

"There is a necessity," said Mr. Raymond, for some measure 
of protection to the people of the Southern 3. I think it 

is clear that life, liberty, and property are not properly guarded 
by law, are not safe throughout those Southern States. They are 
not properly protected by the courts and judicial tribunals of 
those States; they arc not properly protected by the civil author- 
ities thai arc in possession of political power in those States." 

the pending bill, he said: "It is a simple abnegation <>t' 
all attempts for the time in protect the people in the Southern 
- by the ordinary exercise of civil authority. It hand- over 
all authority in th [ ates to officers of the army of the United 
States, and clothes them as officers <>t" the army with complete, 
absolute, unrestricted power to administer the affairs of th<>~c 
States according t<> their sovereign will and pleasure. In my 
opinion there has nut occurred an emergency which justifi - 
resort i<> this extreme reined}-. The military force ought to 
follow the civil authority, and not lead it, nut take its place, 
m4 supersede it." 

" We must compel obedience to the Union," -aid Mr. Garfield, 
"and demand protection for its humbles zen wherever the 

flag floats. We must so exert the power of the nation that it 
shall be deemed both safe and honorable to have been loyal in 
the midst of treason. We must see to ii that the frightful car- 
nival of blood now raging in the South shall continue no lo: 
The time has come when we must lay the heavy hand of mili- 
tary authority upon these rebel communities and hold them in 
i.- grasp till their madness is pa 

Mr. Stevens having expressed a wish to have an immediate 

. Mr. Banks remarked: "I believe that a day or two de- 

1 in a discussion of this subject of the reconstruction of the 

Government will bring us to a solution in which the two bouses 

of Congress will agree, in which the people of this country will 

sustain us, and in which the Presidenl of the United States will 

u- his suppi 

■•I have nut the advantage," replied Mr. Stevens, "of the 
secret negotiations which the distinguished gentleman from Mas- 
sachusetts [Mr. Banks] has, and from which h - to expect 
such p .•;' cl harmony b the President and th( I 



MILITAR 1 ' RECONSTRUCTION . ICT. 

he United Stales within a few days. If I had that advan- 
. 1 do not know what effecl it might have upon me. Not 
having it. I can not, of course, act upon it." 

"In the remarks which I made."' said Mr. Banks, " I made 
no allusion to any negotiations with the President. I have 
no negotiations with the President of the United State-, nor do 
1 know his opinions, and in the vote which 1 shall give u 
this question, neither the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. 
Stevens] nor any other man has the right to assume that I 
accept the policy of the Executive in the smallest particular. I 
hope for a change of his position ; I think that it is not im] 
sible. At all events, I think it is something which is worth 
our while to try for." 

The previous question was moved by Mr. Stevens; but a 
majority refusing to second the motion, the discussion was con- 
tinued. 

Mr. Ka-son denied the existence of a right in Congress ' 
establish a military government over people who have been in 
insurrection." He proposed as a substitute for the pending 
measure "A bill to establish an additional article of war for 
the more complete suppression of the insurrection against the 
United States." This provided for a division of the rebel ter- 
ritory into military districts, as did the original bill, and au- 
thorized commanders to declare martial law wherever it should 
be necessary for the "complete suppression of violence and dis- 
order." 

Mr. Ashley moved an amendment providing for the restoration 
to loyal owners of property confiscated by the rebel government, 
and providing that military government should cease so soon as 
the people of the rebel States should adopt State constitutions 
securing to all citizens equal protection of the laws, including 
the right of the elective franchise, and should ratify the propi 
amendment to the Constitution. 

Mr. Raymond thought that, on account of the great diversity 
of opinion, the whole subject should he referred to a select com- 
mittee, who should be instructed to report within three or four 
days a bill which should "provide temporarily for the protection 
of rights and the preservation of the peace in the State- lately in 
rebellion, and also for the speedy admission of those State- (o 
their relations in the Union upon the basis of the Constitutional 



THE Til lirrr-M.VTll COXGRElt 

Amendment." Thus he hoped a result could 1"- reached which 
"would command the support of Congress and of the country, 
and the approval, or al least the assent, of the Executr 

Mr. Boutwell remarked that previous propositions having been 

rred i" the Committee on \( nstruction, they had 

upon the bill before the House with a unanimity which no other 
report had ever obtained, nor ha<l any bill submitted by that 
committee ever been so carefully considered as this. "To-d 

• 

said he, "there are eight millions and more of people, occupying 
six hundred and thirty thousand square miles of the territory of 
this country, who arc writhing under cruelties nameless in their 
character — injustice such as has not been permitted to exist in 
any other country in modern times ; and all this because in this 
capital there sits enthroned a man who, so for as tin :utive 

department is concerned, guides the destinies of the republic in 
the interest of rebels; ami because, also, in those ten former States 
rebellion itself, inspired by the executive department of this Gov- 
ernment, wields all authority, and is the embodiment of law and 
power every-where. Until in tin' South this obstacle to recon- 
struction i- removed, there can he no effectual step taken toward 
the reorganization of the Government." 

■• A well man needs no remedies," said Mr. XiWlaek, in a speech 
againsl the hill: "it is only when he is sick that you can require 
him to submit to medicinal applications. A country at peace does 
not need and ought not to allow martial law and other summary 
remedies incident to a -tat.' of war. The highest and dearest in- 
terests of this country are made subordinate to party exigencies 
ami to special and particular interests. No wonder, then, that 
trade languishes and commerce declines." 

On the 1 2th of February, Mr. Bingham proposed an amend- 
ment making the restoration of the rebel State- conditional upon 
their adoption of the Constitutional Amendment, and imposing 
upon tie hi. meanwhile, the military government provided by the 
pending hill. 

Mr. Kellev advocated the hill as reported from the committee. 
"This," -aid he, •• i- little more than a mere police hill. The 
necessity for it arises from the perfidy of the President of the 
United Stat.-. Had he been true to the duties of his high office 
and his public and repeated pledges, there would have been no 
necessity for considering such a hill." 



MIL IT, IE T EECOA 'S T /.' UCTION A CT. o.J 7 

"Throughout the region of the unreconstructed States," said 
Mr. Maynard, "the animating, life-giving principle of the rebell- 
ion is as thoroughly in possession <»f the country and <>f all the 
political power there to-day as it ever has hern since the first 
gun was tired upon Fort Sumter. The rebellion is alive. It is 
strong — -strong in the number of its votaries, strong in its social 
influences, strong in its political power, strong in the belief thai 
the executive department of this Government is in sympathy and 
community of purpose with them, strong in the belief that the 
controlling majority of the supreme judiciary of the land is with 
them in legal opinion, strong in the belief that the controversy 
in this body between impracticable zeal and incorrigible timidity 
will prevent any thing of importance being accomplished or any 
legislation matured.*' 

• It is," said Mr. Allison, "because of the interference of the 
President of the United States with the military law which ex- 
ists in those States that tins bill is rendered necessary. In my 
judgment, if we had to-day an Executive who was desirous of 
enforcing the laws of the United States to protect loyal men in 
those State.-, instead of defending the rebel clement, this bill 
would not be needed." 

Mr. Blaine submitted an amendment providing that any one 
of the "late so-called Confederate States" might be restored to 
representation ami relieved of military rule when, in addition to 
having accepted the Constitutional Amendment, it should have 
conferred the elective franchise impartially upon all male citizen- 
over twenty-one years of age. 

Mr. Blaine maintained that the people in the elections of 1866 
had declared in favor of "universal, or, at least, impartial suf- 
frage as the basis of restoration." 

On the 13th of February the discussion was continued. "That 
the spirit of rebellion still lives," said Mr. Van Horn, of New 
York, "and now thrives in the South no sane man can deny; 
that the determination exists to make their rebellion honorable 
and the loyalty of the South a lasting disgrace and a permanenl 
badge of dishonor is equally true and can not be denied. The 
leaders of the rebellion, being in power in all the ten States un- 
reconstructed, still defy the authority of the United States to a 
great extent, and deny the power of the loyal millions of the 
country, who have saved our nation's life against their treason 



THE THIRTT-XLA 

and rebellion, to prescribe terras of settle] in- 

tra and deny also that they have lost any rights they had 

b fore the war or committed any treason against the Govern- 
ment." 

The measure before the House, as it came from the Commil 
on ustruction, "was not intended as a reconsti 

to the interpretation of Mr. Stevens. " It was in- 
i ided -imply as a police bill t<> protect the loyal men fr 
anarchy and murder, until this Congress, taking a little m 
time, can suit gentlemen in a l>ill for the admission of all tli 
! States upon the basis of civil governmen 

The various amendments proposed were designed by their 
authors to add a plan of' reconstruction to the pending hill. ( >f 
these Mr. Boutwell remarked: '•Without examining into the <le- 
ils of the amendments, I have this to gay, that any general 
proposition for the restoration of these States to the Union u] 
any basis not set forth in an act of Congress is fraught with the 
greatest danger to future peace and prosperity of the republic." 

The amendments of Mi-. Bingham and Mr. Blaine were tinallv 

■ 

combined by their authors. The combination made an amend- 
ment providing that the "States lately in insurrection" -'.aid 
he restored and relieved of military rule upon their ratifi ati 
of the Constitutional Amendment and adoption of impartial 
suffrage. In order to "disentangle what - ' so much entan- 

gled," it was moved that the hill he recommitte ! to the Judiciary 
Committee, with instructions to report back immediately the 
amendment of Messrs. Blaine and Bingham. 

Mr. Stevens then addressed the House, pr * that in Ids 

state of health a few words must suffice. Me fit a moral dv- 
pression in viewing the condition of the party responsible for I 
doin-- of ( !ongress. " For the last few months," said h . " ; »n- 
lias been sitting here, and while the South has been bleed- 
ing at every pore. Congress has done nothing to protect the loyal 

ople there, white or black, either in their persons, in their 
liberl y, or in their properl . 

Of hi- previous hill, which had been consigned to it- tomb in 
b in'-; referred to the Committee on Reconstruction, Mr. Stevens 
said: ,- I thought it was a good hill; I had labored upon it in 
oonjuncti >n \\i:':i several commit' loyal nun from the South 

for four month.-; I had altered, and rcaltercd it, written and re- 



M II i T. IRT RECONSTRUCTION ACT I 29 

written it four several times, and found thai it met the appro- 
bation of numerous societies and meetings in all the Southern 
■>. It was, therefore, not altogether my fault if it was not 
so good a bill as might be found; but I did think that, after 
all, it was uncivil, unjust, indecent nol to attempt to amend it 
and make it better, to see whether we could do something to 
enable our friends in the Southern States to establish institutions 
according to the principles of republican government." 

Mr. Stevens deprecated a disposition among his friends to be 
hypercritical in relation to mere verbal details. "If I might 
presume upon my age/' said he, "without claiming any of the 
wisdom of Nestor, I would suggest to the young gentlemen 
around me that the deeds of this burning crisis, of this solemn 
day, of this thrilling moment, will cast their shadows far into 
the future and will make their impress upon the annals of our 
history, and that we shall appear upon the bright pages of that 
history just in so far as we cordially, without guile, without bick- 
ering, without small criticism-, lend our aid to promote the great 
cause of humanity and universal liberty." 

The question being taken on the motion to refer to the Com- 
mittee on the Judiciary, it was decided in the negative — yeas, 
69; nays, 94. The question was then taken on the passage of 
the bill. It passed the House — one hundred and nine voting in 
the affirmative, and fifty-five in the negative. 

"I wish to inquire, Mr. Speaker/' said Mr. Stevens, " if it is 
in order for me now to say that we indorse the language of 
good old Laertes, that Heaven rules as yet, and tin re are gods 

above."" 

At the evening session of the Senate on the same clay, the bill 
"to provide for the more efficient government of the insurrec- 
tionary Stall's** was announced as having passed the House, and 
at once received its first reading. Mr. Williams gave notice of 
his intention to propose an amendment, but on the following 
day, when the Senate proceeded to consider the subject, he said 
that being impressed with the necessity of the passage of the 
bill, and fearing that any amendment might endanger if not 
defeat it. he had concluded not to present his amendment. 

Mr. Johnson said that the adoption of the amendment would 
make the bill much less objectionable to him. although he could 
not vote for it even if amended. lie then offered the amend- 
34 



THE THIirrV-.YI.YTIf COXGBESS. 

mint, which was substantially the sun-' as that proposed bj 
Messrs. Bingham and Blaine in the House of Representatives. 

Mr. Stewart regretted that the S itor from Oregon 
changed his mind in regard to this amendment. "The mili- 
tary bill without that," said he, "is an acknow '_ ent that. 
after two years of discussion and earnest thought, we are unable 
to reconstruct, and are compelled to turn the matter over to the 
military. It seems to me that the people of the United Stat - 
want and demand something more than a military government 
for the South." 

Several Senators thought Mr. Stewart was unnecessarily troubled 
about military governments in the South. "Are we," asked Mr. 
Morrill, "who have stood here for five long, bloody years, and 
witnessed the exercise of military power over these rebel Stat 
to be frightened now by a declaration of that sort? That is not 
the temper in which 1 find myself to-day. I have got so ac- 

stomed, if you please, to the exercise of this authority 

••That is the trouble," said Mr. Stewart. 
•• That has not been our trouble that we have exercised pow ." 
said Mr. Morrill; "that has been the salvation of the nation. 
The trouble has been from the hesitation to exercise authority 
when authority was required." 

Mr. Wilson thought that the wisest course would be to p 
the bill just as it came from the House. W it was to be amended 
at all, he would propose an amendment that all citizens should 
"equally possess the right to pursue all lawful avocations and 

r ive the equal benefits of the public schools." 

•■1 think the amendments," said Mr. Howard, "entirely in- 
compatible with the scheme and provisions of the hill it-elf. ami 
that gentlemen will discover that incompatibility on look 
into it." 

Mr. Henderson thought that the remedy proposed by him lone 
before would he found the only cure for the ill- of the nation. 
•• 1 offered," -aid he. •• twelve month- ago, a proposition, a- a con- 
stitutional amendment, that was to -ive political rights t" the 
negroes. Some Senators -aid it was a humbug, that it was Jacob 
Townsend's Sarsaparilla, or some thing to that effect, that it 
would amount to oothing. Now, 1 will a-k what other protec- 
tion r.m you give to ;i Union man in the Southern Mat'- than 
the ballot?" 



MILITARY RECONSTRUCTION ACT. 531 

Since the bill must be passed both Houses and go to the Pres- 
ident by the following Tuesday, in order to give Congress time to 
pass it over his veto, Mr. Williams, who had the bill in cha 
was desirous of having it passed upon in the Senate on the 
evening of the day of this discussion, February loth. Several 
Senators protested against this as unreasonable haste. " It is 
extraordinary," said Mr. Doolittle, "that a bill of this kind, * 
proposes to establish a military despotism over eight million 
people and a country larger than England. France, and Spain 
combined, is to be pressed to a vote in this Senate the first day 
it is taken up for consideration." 

"If the measure will not bear argument," -aid Mr. Hendricks, 
"then let it be passed in the dark hours of the night. I think 
it is becoming, when despotism is established in this free land, 
that the best blood that ever ran in mortal veins was shed to 
make tree, that that despotism shall be established when the sun 
does not shed its bright light upon the earth. It is a work for 
darkness and not for light." 

" He talks about establishing a despotism," said Mr. Hender- 
son, "and gets into a perfect fret about it. Why, sir, the South- 
ern States have presented nothing but a despotism for the last 
six years. During the rebel rule it was a despotism, the veriest 
despotism ever established upon earth; and since the rebel rule 
ceased, the President of the United States certainly has governed 
the Southern States without ever consulting Congress on the 
subject/' 

The Senate held an evening session for the consideration of 
this bill. Mr. Hendricks proposed to modify the pending 
amendment so as to provide for impartial rather than universal 
suffrage. He thought that States should be allowed to limit 
suffrage. Mr. Saulsbury would not vote for this amendment be- 
cause he was unwilling to " touch, taste, or handle the unclean 
thing." On the other hand. Mr. Davis could vote for it because 
he preferred a "little unclean thing" to "a bio- one." Mr. 
Hendricks finally withdrew his amendment. 

Mr. Doolittle Imped that the majority would seriously weigh 
this question because on it might depend whether the people of 
the South would accept the Constitutional Amendment, and ac- 
cept the proposition necessary to get rid of military despotism. 

" Make them," said Mr. Wilson. 



77/ A' THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 

said Mr. ! i littli . " if thai is the 1 
-.1:111. to say to a j»>i»j»!<- who have been educated in the 

largest libertv, a people in whose vein 3 son 1»1 1 

is flowing, 

despotism of every form, ' You mus pt this position at the 

point of the bayon forever live with the bayonet at your 

I - •; : the way to make peace?" 

•• I think it is statesmanship," replied Mr. Wilson, " to settle I 
question of reconstruction upon the solid basis of the perfect equal- 
ity of rights and privileges among citizens of the United Stal s. 
Colored men arc citizens, and they have just as much right as this 
race whose blood has been fighting against oppression for a thousand 
years, as he says, and any settlement of this civil war upon any oth 
basis than perfect equality of rights and privileges among citizens 
of the United States is not statesmanship; it is mere trifling; 
only keeping open questions for future controversy. N 
settled unless it i- settled upon the basis of jus 

•• 1 shall vote for this amendment," said Mr. Lane, "believing 
that it i- necessary to make a perfect system for the r on 

of the lately rebellious - 

"The amendment," said Mr. Johnson, "is objectionable to me 
only upon the ground that it denies to those States the right of 
coming into the Union entitled to representation until they ex- 
tend the suffrage, because 1 believe the right of suffrage is a 
matter with which the Congr ss of the United S1 - no 



concern." 



•• I know perfectly well," said Mr. Buckalew, "that a \ 
this amendment, although given under circumstances which do 
not commit me to the proposition as a final one, will be misun- 
derstood and perverted. It will be said throughout the country 
of each of those who stand in the position in which I stand, that 
we have departed, to some extent at least, from that position 
which we have hitherto maintained, and maintained ag inst all 
the influences of the time, againsl the pressure of circumsfc 
which have swept many from our side and carried them into the 
large and swollen camp of the majority. Sir. 1 for one am am- 
bitious of being known as one among that number of men who 
have kepi their faith, who have followed their convictions, who 
obeyed the dictation of duty in the worst of times, who did 
not bend when the storm heat hardest and strong - linsl them, 



MILITARY RFJ'o.YSTUlTTlo.Y ACT. 533 

but kepi their honor unsullied, their faith intact, their self-respect 

unbroken and entire." 

• l Mv object is," said Mr. Henderson, when proposing to mod- 
ify the pending amendment, " to secure the franchise, and after 
that is secured, to go forward and establish civil governments in 

the Sunt hern Stales." 

Extended arguments against the measure were made by Mr. 
Johnson and Mr. Hendricks. At twelve o'clock the minority 
desired to adjourn, and the friends of the measure would have 
been willing to do so could an understanding have been had as 
to an hour on the following day when the vote would be taken. 

Mr. McDougall would submit to no such limitation upon free 
speech. "I do not expect myself," said he, "to speak at any 
great length, but yet if upon careful consideration I should choose 
to do so. or if possessing the recollections of past times and mem- 
ories and reasons and considerations that yet lay in my hidden 
memories I shall choose to talk for a longer period, I shall claim 
the right to do so." 

•■ 1 am anxious to give my views on this subject," said Mr. 
1 >avis. " I do not feel able to give them at this late hour of the 
night : still, I believe I could hang on for three or four hours if 
1 was disposed to do so, [laughter,] but I believe that to-morrow 
1 should not occupy more than at the farthest two hours of the 
time of the Senate." 

Numerous amendment- were proposed, much discursive talk 
was indulged in, and many motions to adjourn were voted down. 
At length, three o'clock of Saturday morning, February Kith, 
having arrived, an adjournment was brought about by mean- of 
a very long amendment proposed by Mr. Henderson as a substi- 
tute for the entire bill. This opening up a new discussion, the 
friends of the pending bill saw the impossibility of coming to a 
sp ■ lv vote, and consented to an adjournment. 

On the reassembling of the Senate on Saturday, February 
16th, Mr. Doolittle delivered a very long speech in opposition to 
the bill, and in vindication of his political course which had 
called in question by the " Radicals of Wisconsin." "I ri 
said he, "to plead for what 1 believe to be the life of the repub- 
lic, and for that spirit which gives it life. 1 stand here, als< . to 
answer for myself; because, foreseeing and resisting from the 
beginning what I knew must follow as the logical consequences 



6 . THE 77///,'7T-.\7.\77/ COA 

of idoption i fiindamental heresies originating in 

Massachusetts, and of which the honorable Senator upon my 

_ ;,t [Mr. Sumner] is tin cate ami champion, I have be 

for more than eighteen months denounced in m\ bv many 

■ • * 

of my former political, associates and friends." 

At the evening -(--ion of the Senate, Mr. Saulsbury and Mr. 
Davis delivered led speeches against the measure. " I ap- 

peal to you, sir/ 3 said Mr. Saulsbury; "1 .ho 

exercise political power in this country now. by all the memories 
that cluster around the glorious past : by the recollection of the 
noble deeds and heroic sufferings of our ancestors, for you and for 
in . for your posterity and for my posterity ; by all the bright 
realizations which might be ours in this present hour; by all the 
bright future and all the glories which arc in that immediate 
future, stop your aggressions upon the Constitution of your 
country." 

The vote having been taken on the amendment proposed by 
Mr. Johnson and the substitute of Mr. Henderson, they w 
both rejei ted. 

Mr. Sherman then offered an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute, the preamble of which declared that " No legal St 
governments or adequate protection for life or property now exist 
in the rebel State-."* It retained the military feature of the 
original bill, with the modification that the President, instead of 
the General of the army, should appoint district commanders. 
The most important part of the amendment un- a plan of recon- 
struction, which addled a new section to the i>i! ! in the following 
form : 

- .1 '. That \\ lien tin •■■■ >ple of any one of 

rebel States shall have formed ;i Constitution nvernment in con- 

formity with the Constitution of the United States in all re framed 

liv ;i convention of <i ted by the ma - of said State 

at) ■ years old and upward, of whatever rai r, or previous con 

mm of servitude, wh ' o resident in said State for one year pre- 

vious to the daj of sucli elec sucb as may be disfranchised for 

participation in the rebellion, or for felony at common law, and when Buch 
i istitution shall provide thai the elective frai joyed ''. v :l " 

mi , persons as have i In- qualifications herein stated for electors of d< 

ftud when such Constitution shall be ratified by a majority of the per- 
sons voting "U the questii n of ratification \\li" are qualified as electors oi 
and when - ' >n shall have been submitted to Con- 



MIL ! T, IRT E ECONS TfiUCTIOJY ■ 1 <"!'. 535 

gross for examination and approval, and Congress shall have appointed the 
same, and when said State, by a vote of its Legislature elected under said 
Constitution, shall have adopted the amendment to the Constitution of the 
United States proposed by tin' Thirty-ninth Congress, and known as arl 

fourteen, and when said article shall have I ome a pan of the Constitution 

of the United States, said State shall be declared entitled to representation 
in Congress, and Senator- and Representatives shall be admitted therefrom 
on their taking the oath prescribed by law, and then and thereafter the 

preceding sections of this act shall he inoperative in said State 

Mr. Sherman made a brief speech in explanation of the hill. 
"All there is material in the hill,'' said he, " is in the first two 
lines of the preamble and the fifth section, in my judgment. The 
first two lines may lay the foundation, by adopting the proclama- 
tion issued first to North Carolina, that the rebellion had swept 
away all the civil governments in the Southern States; and the 
fifth section points out the mode by which the people of those 
State.-, in their own manner, without any limitations or restric- 
tions by Congress, may get back to full representation in Con- 
gress." 

After numerous propositions to amend, and speeches against 
the bill by Messrs. Hendricks, Cowan, Buckalew and McDou- 
gall, the Senate reached a vote upon the bill at six o'clock 
on Sunday morning. Twenty-nine voted in the affirmative, 
namely : 

Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Cattell, Chandler. Conness, Cragin, Creswell, 
Fogg, Frelinglmysen, Crimes, Howard. Howe. Kirkwood, Lane, Morgan, 
Morrill, Poland. Pomeroy, Ramsey, Ross, Sherman, Stewart. Trumbull, Van 

Winkle. Wade. Willey, Williams, Wilson, and Yates. 

Ten voted in the negative, to-wit : 

Messrs. Buckalew, Cowan, l>a\is. Doolittle, Hendricks, McDougall, \ - 
niith, Norton. Patterson, and Saulsbury. 



*> 



The Senate amended the title of the bill by substituting 
the word "rebel" for "insurrectionary." Thus passed in the 
Senate the great measure entitled "A bill to provide for the more 
efficient government of the rebel States." 

On Monday, February L8th, the bill, as amended, came before 
the House. Mr. Stevens moved that the amendments ( »t' the 
Senate be non-concurred in, and that the House ask a Commit- 
tee of < Conference. 



536 THE THIRTT-XIXTH COXGRESS. 

Mr. Boutwell opposed the amendment. " [f I did not be- 
lieve," said he, "that this bill, in the form in which it now 
comes to us from th - te, was _ht with great and perma- 

nent danger to the country, I would not attempt to resist further 
it - passagi ." 

II, • objected to the bill on the ground that it proposed to re- 
construct the rebel Starr governments at a;b the agency 
of disloyal men, and that it gave additional power to the I 
dent when he had failed to use the vast power which he already 
possessed in behalf of loyalty and justi 

Mr. Stokes saw in the bill the- principle of universal amnesty 
and universal suffrage. " I would rather have nothii lid he, 

"if th riiin.nts are reconstructed in a way that will pli 

the rebels over I Fnion men." 

•• Now, what has the Senate done?" Mr. Stevens asked. "Sent 
back to us an amendment which contain- every thing else but pro- 

:tion. Ii has -cut us hack a bill which raises the whole qi 
tion in dispute as to the best mode of reconstructing these Stat 
by distant and future pledges which this I \ -- has no auth 
ity to make and no power to execute. What power has this < Con- 
gress to say to a future Congress, When the Southern States have 
done certain things, you shall admit them, and receive their 
members into this Hous '.' " 

"Our friends," said he, in another part of his remark-, "who 
love this bill, love it now because the President is to execute it. 
as he has executed every law for the last two years by the mur- 
der ofUniou men. and by despising Congress and flinging into 
our teeth all that we seek to have done." 

Mr. Stevens thought that in two hours a Committee of Con- 
ference could frame a bill and report it to the Bouse free from 
all these difficulties— free from all this extraneous matter — 
which would protect every loyal man in the Southern State-, and 
Ho no injustice to the disloyal. 

Mr. Blaine supported the bill as it came from the Senate. 
••( ,,. id he, "no more guara under this bill, the 

ri-ht of any rebel in anv State to vote than did Congress guar- 
antee to the rebels in Tcnn the right to vote." 

"Although this bill," said Mr. Wilson of Iowa, "does not 

ain all I de-ire to accomplish, it i mbrace much upon 

which 1 ha :cd. It reaches far which 



MILITARY RECONSTRUCTION ACT 537 

the most sanguine of us hoped for a year ago. It secures equal 
suffrage to all loyal men ; it set- aside the pretended governments 
which now abuse power in the rebel States ; it insists on the rat- 
ification of the Constitutional Amendment, under the operation of 
which all the rebelswho now occupy official position in the i 
affected by this bill will be rendered ineligible to office, State or 
national; it presents an affirmative policy, on the part of Con- 
gress, hostile to that of the President ; it demonstrates the ability 
of Congress to agree upon a given line of future action; and, 
finally, it reserves to Congress jurisdiction over the whole c 
when the people of any Southern disorganized State may present 
a Constitution and ask for admission to this body as a part of 
the governing power of the nation. There is too much of good 
in this to be rejected. I will vote to concur in the amendment 
of the Senate." 

Mr. Bingham maintained that in the bill, as it passed the 
House, they had voted as extensive power- to the President as 
were conferred upon him by the bill as amended by the Senate. 
The former bill provided that the General in command of tl 
army should detail army officers; but all officers of the army are 
under command of the Commander-in-chief as constituted by I 
supreme law of the land. "For myself," said he, " 1 had rather 
that my right hand should forget its cunning, and that my tongue 
should cleave to the roof of my month, than to find myself here 
so false to my own convictions, and so false to the high trust com- 
mitted to me by that people who sent me here as to vote against 
this bill." 

"This bill," said Mr. Farnsworth, "provides a platform ten 
steps in advance of the platform upon which we went to the 
people last fall. We then only expected the ratification of the 
amendment to the Constitution proposed by Congress at its last 

-ion, and the formation of Constitutions, republican in form, 
which should give the people there the right to loyal men 

here as Senators and Representatives. I>at by this bill we extend 
impartial suffrage to the black man — universal suffra<: .'" 

" I am one of those who believe we ought to do s< 
paid Mr. Schenck. " I believe we ought to declare I 
States, as we do by this bill, that they shall be put under mar- 
tial law, and held by the strong hand to k until 
they have complied with whatever conditions are imposed upon 



538 THE TUIi;T)--M.YTII CONGRESS. 

i. But while we do this, I think it equally important to an- 
nounce to them, to announce to the country, to announce to our 

( stituents as the completion of the whole platform upon which 

ore ill" nation, the terms which we require of them." 

.M r. ( farfield favored the Senate amendment. " There are some 
gentlemen," said he, " who live among the eagles on the high 
mountain peaks, beyond the limit of perpetual frost, and thej 5 
the lineaments in the face of freedom so much dearer than 1 do, 
whenever any measure comes here that seem- almost t<> grasp our 
purpose, they rise and tell us it is all poor and mean and a sur- 
render of liberty ." 

•• These terms embrace, in my judgment," said Mr. Thayer, 
"every guarantee, every safeguard, and every cheek which it 
is propel' for us to demand or apply. Upon these foundations 
we can safely build, for by them we retain the final control of 
the question in nm- own hands." 

Mr. Hotchkiss opposed the bill as amended. " [f you allow 
this bill to go into operation as it now -land.-/' said he, "with- 
out making any amendment of it- provisions, and permit these 
elections to be held, a- they must necessarily be held under this 
bill, under the authority, control, and regulation of the gov- 

ernments in those States, there will he no security whatever, and 
you will have the election- in New Orleans held under the 
trol of Mayor Monroe and the mob which he used to such fell 
purpose last summer. Thai i- the entertainment to which this 
I. ill invites us. 

•• 1 regard this as a Hank movement." said Mr. Bromwell, " by 
which is to be brought about thai darling scheme of certain poli- 
ticians — universal amnesty and universal suffrage. Whether it 
end in universal suffrage or not, one thing is certain, it is uni- 
ver-al amnesty." 

••It would be emphatically," said Mr. Donnelly, "a govern- 
ment of rebels. 1 - y a government of rebels, because although 
the amendment which has reached US from the Senate contains 
the words, 'Except such as may be disfranchised for participa- 
tion in the rebellion,' thai disfranchisement has to come from 
the rebels I Ives, and surely there is no man upon this floor 

k enough to suppose that they will so disfranchise tin 
selvi 

Mr. LeBlond opposed both hill-. Of the one before the House, 



MILITARY RECONSTRUCTION ACT. 539 

said: "This bill is quite as infamous, quite as absurd, as the 
bill that the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania, [Mr. 
Stevens,] who is Chairman of the Committee on Reconstruction, 
contends for and hangs so tenaciously to. It confers all the pow- 
ers that that bill gives; it confers all the powers thai the most 
radical could claim consistently." 

•• I shall content myself/' said Mr. Eldridge, "with denouncing 
this measure as most wicked and abominable. It contains all that 
is vicious, all that is mischievous in any and all of the propositions 
which have come either from the Committee on Reconstruction 
or from any gentleman upon the other side of the House." 

"If you do not take this bill," said Mr. Delano, "although in 
all its parts it does not suit you, what are you likely to give the 
American people? Nothing. I will not return to my constitu- 
ents admitting that I have failed to try to do something in this 
great trial of the nation. It is not for rebels that I legislate; it 
is not for the right of those who have sought to destroy this 
Government that 1 extend mercy; but it is for the liberties, 
rights, and welfare of my country, for all parts of it." 

"If this hill be passed, said Mr. Banks, "in my belief there 
will be no loyal party known and no loyal voice heard in any of 
the-: Si -, from Virginia to Texas." 

Man)- members subsequently presented arguments and opinions 

for and against the bill, in speeches limited to fifteen minutes i:i 

rth. This occupied a session protracted until near midnight. 

On the following morning, February 19th, a vote was taken, 
and the Hon-.' refused to concur in the amendments of the Senate, 
and asked a Committee of Conference. 

The action of the Mouse having been announced in the Senate, 
that body immediately proceeded to consider a motion made by 
Mr. Williams, that they insist on their amendment and agree to 
the conference. The proposition to give the subject into the 
hands ol mmittee of Conference was opposed by many Sen- 

ators, who thought a question of so much importance should be 
deliberated upon in a full Senate. If such a committee were 
appointed, their repori could only be adopted or rejected without 
modification or amendment. They would only have the power 
which they possess over a nomination by tin- President — power to 
reject a nominee without naming another. 

••'fir: result arrived at by the Senate in reference to this bill," 



510 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 



•r 



said Mr. ('(hum--, "was after the i nature consideration that 

was Jv'ii to any proposition thai ••ami-' before this body, 

resulting in an unanimity, at leas! on this side of the chamber, 
unparalleled in legislative proceedings— a result hailed by the 
country at large, demanded by the mosl intelligent and poAver- 
i'nl of the American press, alike acceptable to the industrial 
and commercial interests of the country, which suffer from a 
continual disorganization of the country affecting it- vital in- 

* 

dusfries." 

"The fact that it is a very important bill," said Mr. William-, 
only makes it the more nee as it seems to me, to adopt the 

usual practice in such cases"— that of appointing a < Jommittee of 
( inference. 

Mr. Sumner favored the appointment of such a commit 
The Senate had made ii- best endeavor, the House had refused to 
concur, and now to ask that body to vote upon the question i a 
without a Committee of Conference would kill the hill. In such 
a case there could he no hope during the session for any jusl and 
beneficent measure either of protection <>r reconstruction. 

Mr. Fessenden had taken no part in the debate upon the hill 
when it was on it< passage. A majority of his political friends 
having determined that the measure which passed the £ 
the best that could he accomplished, he had lis <\\r,y 

not to prcsenl his individual objections to the hill. •• 1 would 
have very much preferred," -aid he, " the Military Bill, as it was 
called, pure ami simple, without having any thin- else upon it. 
and leaving to other legislation, if it was judged expedient, what 
else mighl lie don-." 

Mr. Trumbull had no; before -aid a word in reference to this 
hill. He never regarded the Military Hill as it came from the 

■ 

1 1 . . : i - of Representatives as of the slightest importance. 8 etion 
fourteenth of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill conferred all the pow- 
ers given in .the Military Hill. Ii bad not been used for 
the pi-' of the loyal people of the South, would the reitera- 
tion of the statute he to any purpose? Yet Mr. rrumbull 
thought tli endment put upon the hill by the Senate 
tained every guarantee that had ever been asked lor by any one. 
was unwilling that a great question like this, open in all its 
parts, should he submitted to a Committee of Conferen 

The vote was finally taken, after a prolonged discussion, i 



MIL I T. I R I ' RECO, \ 'STR I 7 77a V . ICT. 54 7 

oate insisted on its amendment, and refused to appoint a Com- 
mittee of < Conference. 

The bill having gone back to the Hon-;' of Representatives, 
they resolved by a vote of one hundred and twenty-six to forty- 
six to recede from their disagreement to the amendment of the 
Senate, and to concur in the same with amendments, providing 
that no person excluded from holding office by the recently pro- 
posed Constitutional Amendment should be eligible for member- 
ship in the convention to frame a constitution for any of the 
rebel States, nor should any such person be allowed to vote for 
members of such convention. Another amendment proposed by 
the House was the addition of a section (sixth) to the bill provid- 
ing that until the rebel States should be admitted to representa- 
tion in Congress, airy civil governments existing therein should 
be deemed provisional only, and subject to the paramount author- 
ity of the United States, who may at any time abolish, modify, 
control, or supersede them. 

This qualified concurrence on the part of the House having 
been announced in the Senate, that body proceeded immediately 
to consider the question of acquiescence. . 

Mr. Sherman said that his only objection to the amendment of 
the House was, that it disfranchised ten or fifteen thousand lead- 
ing rebels from voting at the elections, yet he was willing' to 
agree to the amendment. 

Mr. Sumner congratulated Mr. Sherman on the advanced step 
he had taken. " To-morrow." said Mr. Sumner. " I hope to wel- 
come the Senator to some other height." 

Mr. Sherman was unwilling to admit that he had coin" to Mr. 
Sumner's stand-point. lie was willing to accept the hill, although 
it excluded a few thousand rebels from voting, yet " I would 
rather have them all vol"," said he. " white and black, under the 
stringent restrictions of this hill, and let the governments of the 
Southern State- that are aboul now to rise upon the permanent 
foundation of universal liberty and universal equality, stand upon 
the consent of the governed, white and black, former slaves and 
former masters." 

Then followed an extended discussion of the question as to 
whether the Senate should agree to the amendments proposed by 
the House. Mr. Doolittle proposed and advocated an amend- 
ment providing that nothing in the bill should he construed to 



54% Till: TEIRTY-NWTR COXGRESS. 

disfranchise persons who have received pardon and amnesty. 
This amendment was rejected — yeas, 8 ; nays, 33. 

The vote was then taken upon the final pass _ f the bill 
amended by the House; il passed the Senate — ; 35; -.7. 

The Bill "to provide for the more efficient government of 1 1 1« ■ 
I States/' having thus passed both houses of Congress on the 
20th of February, it was immediately submitted to the President 
for his approval. 

( )n the second of March the President returned the bill to the 
House, in which it originated, with his objections, whi 
grave that he hoped a statement <>(' them might " have some in- 
fluence on the minds of the patriotic and enlightened men with 
whom the decision must ultimately rest." 

The Veto Message was immediately read by the clerk of 
House of Representatives. The following extracl sent the 

President's principal objections to the measun 

"The bill places all the people of the ten States therein ■ i tier the 

lute domination of military rulers. * 

•■ Li is not denied that the States in question have cadi of them an actual 
government, with all the powers, executive, judicial, and rhich 

■ rly belong to a frei ii They arc organized like th I • States 

of the Union, and like them they make, administer, and • • 
which concern their domestic affairs. An existing _ . . iinent, ex- 

ercising such functions as these, is itself the law of the -• n all mat- 

ters within its jurisdiction. To pronounce the supreme lav nj> power 

of an established State illegal is to say that law itself is unlawful 

"The in i I it at \ rule which it establishes is plainly to be us 
purpose of order or for the prevention of crime, but solely as a mean- of 
coercing the people into the adoption of principles and measur vhich 

it i- known that they arc opposed, and upon which they ha\ liable 

right to exercise their own judgment 

■■ I submit to Congress whether this measure is not, in its whole charae- 
scope, and object, without precedent and without authority, in palpable 
conflict with the plainest provisions of the Constitution, and utti struc- 

tive to those great principles of liberty and humanity for which mr ances- 
tors on both sides of the Atlantic have shed so much blood and expended 
- i much treasure 

**** + * * 

"The power thus given to the commanding officer over all the p< 
each district is that of an absolute monarch. UN mere will is to take the 
place of all law. The law of the States is now the only rule applicable to 
the subjects placed under his control, and that is completely displaced by 

the clause which declares all interference of State authority to be null and 



MIL 1 1\ IRY R E( U >. \ 'S TR ! 7 77 ON AC T. 

He alone is permitted to determine what are rights of person or prop- 
erty, and he may protect them in such way as in his discretion may seem 
proper, It places at his free disposal all the lands and goods in his district, 
and he may distribute them without let or hinderance to whom he pleases 
Being bound by uo State law, and thei'e being no other law to regulate the 
subject, he may make a criminal code of his own. and he can make it as 
bloody as ;;u\ recorded in history, or he can reserve the privilege of n 
upon the impulse of his private passions in each case that arises He is 
bound by no rules of evidence ; there is indeed no provision by which he is 
authorized or required to take any evidence at all. Every thing is a crime 
which he chooses to call so, and all persons arc condemned whom he pro- 
nounces to be guilty. He is not bound to keep any record or mike any 
report of his proceedings. He may arrest his victims wherever he finds 
i. without warrant, accusation, or proof of probable cause. If he gives 
them a trial before he inflicts the punishment, he gives it of his grace and 
mercy, not because he is commanded so to do. 

******** 

"Cruel or unusual punishment is not to be inflicted, hut who i~ to decide 
what is cruel and what is unusual? ***** Each officer may 
define cruelty according to his own temper, and if it is not usual, he \rill 
make it usual. Corporal punishment, imprisonment, the gag, the hall and 
chain, and the almost insupportable forms of torture invented for military 
punishment lie within the range of choice. The sentence of a commission 
is not to he executed without being approved by the commander, if it affects 
life or liberty, and a sentence of death must be approved by the President. 
This applies to eases in which there has been a trial and sentence. 1 take 
it to hi' clear, under this hill, that the military commander may condemn to 
death without even the form of a trial by a military commission, so that 
the life id' the condemned may depend upon the will of two men instead 
of one. 

" It is plain that the authority here given to the military officer amounts 
to absolute despotism. 

****** * * 

''I come now to a question which is. if possible, still more important. 
Have we the power to establish and carry into execution a measure like 
this? I answer certainly not. if we derive our authority from the Con- 
stitution, and if we are bound by the limitations which ir imposes. This 
proposition is perfectly (dear: that no branch of the Federal Government; 
executive, legislative, or judicial, can have any just power- except those 
which it derives through and exercises under the organic law of the Union. 
Outside of the Constitution we have no legal authority more than private 
citizens, and within it we have only so much as that instrument gives us. 
This broad principle limits all our function and applies to all subjects. It 
protects not only the citizens of States which are within the Union, hut it 
shields every human being who comes or is brought under our jurisdiction. 
We have no right to do in one place more than in another thai which tiie 
Constitution says wc shall not do at all. U] therefore, the Southern Si 



THE THIBTY-XLYTR CONGI 

I I their ; 

which the fundamental law fori 

"If an insurrection should take place in one of mir Stal 
authority of the State government, and end in th throwing of those who 

planned it, would they take away th eople of the 

where it was favored by a part or a majority of the population? Could 
,,•], a r< wholly outlawed and I of their re 

I I have always contended that the ; 

ign within it-; constitutional sphere; that it 

it- laws like the States themselves, by applying its • reive power directly to 

individuals; and that it could put down insurrection with the -am.- 

,,„1 n0 other. The opposite doctrine i- the worst her those 

ission, and ran not '»■ agreed to without admitting that 

heresy to b 
* * * 

"This is a Kill passed ; I rress in time of peace. There i- not in any 

or I' the Stat.- _ 'it under its operation either war or insurre 

The law- '1 of tli'- Federal Government an' ali in undistu 

and harmonious operation. The courts, - ind Federal, are open and in 

the full exercise of their proper authority. OveT - —1 in 

five military districts life, liberty, ami property are secured by Stat.; 
laws ami Federal laws, and the national Constitution is every-where enfi 

and every-wi ed. 

* * - * * * * 

"Actual war. foreign invasion, domestic insurrection — m these ap- 

pear, and none of these in tart exist. It is not even recited that an 
of war or insurrection i> threatened. 

" Upon this question of constitutional law and the power of 
1 President gave quotations from "a recent decision 

of the Supreme Court ex parte Milligan." Having commented 
upon this opinion, the President proceeded with his objections: 

" I need not say to the Representatives of the American people that their 
Constitution forbids the exer judicial power in any way hut one: that 

i-. by the ordained and established courts. |: is equally well known that, in 
all criminal by jury is made h sable by the ex] 

i instrument. I will not enlarge on the inestimable value of the 
nred to every freeman, or speak of the danger to public li' 
in all part- of tin try, which must ensue from a denial of it anywhere, 

or upon any pretens 

"The United Stntes are hound to guaranty to each State a republican 
form »'au it he pretended that this obligation i- not palpa- 

bly broken if we carry out a measure like this, which wipes away every \ 

and put the life, property, liberty 
and honor of nil the people in each of them under the domination 
Bingle person clothed with unlimited authority. 



ILITARY RECONSTRUCTION ACT. 545 

''The purpose and object of the bill — the general intent which pervades 
it from beginning to end— is to change the entire structure and character 
of the State governments, and to compel them by force to the adoption of 
organic law- and regulations which they are unwilling to accept if left to 
themselves. The negroes have not asked for the privilege of voting; the 
vast majority of them have no idea what it means. This bill not only 
thrusts ir into their hands, but compels them, as well as the whites, to use 
it in a particular way. If they do not form a Constitution with prescribed 
articles in it. and afterward elect a Legislature which will art upon certain 
measures in a prescribed way. neither blacks nor whites can lie reliev< d 
from the slavery which the hill imposes upon them. Without pausing here to 
consider the policy or impolicy "I' Africanizing the Southern part of our 
territory. I would simply ask the attention of Congress to that mani 
well-known, and universally-acknowledged rule of constitutional law which 
declares that the Federal Government has no jurisdiction, authority, or power 
to regulate such subjects for any State. To force the right of suffrage out 
of the hands of the white people and into the hands of the negroes is an 
arbitrary violation of this principle. 

••This bill imposes martial law at once, and its operations will begin so 
soon as the General and his troops caii be put in place. The dread alter- 
native between its harsh rule and compliance with the terms of this meas- 
ure is not suspended, nor are the people afforded any time for free delib- 
eration. The bill says to them, Take martial law first, then deliberate. 

;:; ,:j ;;;. * » « S * 

"The bill also denies the legality of the governments of ten of the States 
which participated in the ratification of the amendment to the Federal Con- 
stitution abolishing slavery forever within the jurisdiction of the United 
States, and practically excludes them from the Union. 

"That the measure proposed by this bill does violate the Constitution in 
the particulars mentioned, and in many other ways which 1 forbear to enu- 
merate is too (dear to admit of the least doubt. 

<-i s * * x * * * » * 

"I am thoroughly convinced that any settlement, or compromise, or plan 

of action which is inconsistent with the principles of the Constitution, will 

not only be unavailing, but mischievous; that it will but multiply the 

nt evils instead of removing them. The Constitution, in its whole 

integrity ami vigor, throughout the length and breadth of the land, is the 

- of all compromises. Besides, our duty does not, in my judgment, leave 
us a choice between that and any other. I believe that it contains the rem- 
edy that is so much needed, ami that it' the coordinate branches of the Gov 
eminent would unite upon its provisions, they would be found broad em 
an 1 strong enough to sustain, in time of peace, the nation which they bore 
safely through the ordeal of a protracted civil war. Among the most sacred 
guarantees of that instrument are those which declare that 'each State 
shall have at least one Representative,' and that 'no State, without its 
consent, shall be deprived of it- equal suffrage in the Senate.' Kadi 
house is made the 'judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of 

35 



6 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

\ii members, and may, 'with the concurrem f two-thirds, expel a 

member.' 

* m - • 

"And is it not far better that the work of restoration should be accom- 
plished by simple compliance with the plain requirements of the Constitu- 
tion, than by a recourse to measures which, in eflect, destroy the States, 
and threaten the subversion of the General Government? All that is u< 
sary to settle tlii- simple but important question, without further agitation 
or delay, is a willingness, on the part of all, to sustain the Constitution, and 
carry its provisions into practical operation. If to-morrow either branch of 
Congress would declare that, upon the presentation of their credentials, 
members constitutionally elected, and loyal to the General Go emu 

would be admitted to seats in Congress, while all others would i scluded, 

and their places remain vacant until the selection by the people of loyal 
and qualified persons; and if, ;it the same time, assurance were ^iven that 
this policy would be continued until all the States were represented in Con- 
gress, it would send a thrill of joy throughout the entire hind, as indicating 
the inauguration of m which must spee lily bring tran [utility t«> the 

public mind. 

"While we are legislating upon subjects which are of great importance 

to the whole people, and which must affect all parts of the country, not only 

during the life of the present generation, but for ages to come, we should 

remember that all men are entitled at least to a beariug in the councils 

which decide upon the destiny of themselves and their children. At pr 

ten States are denied representation, and when the fortieth Congress 

assembles, on the fourth day of the present month, sixteen Stales will be 

without a voice in the House of Representatives. This grave fact, with the 

important questions before us, should induce us to pause in a course of 

legislation, which, looking solely to the attainment of political ends, fails to 

consider the rights it transgresses, the law which it violates, or the institutions 

which it imperils. 

"ANDREW JOHNSON. 1 ' 

After the reading of the message, the question came up. "Shall 
the hill pass, the objections of the President to the contrary not- 
withstanding? " 

Mr. Eldridge declared that it would be the duty of the minor- 
ity, if it were within their physical power, to defeat the hill. 
"Bui we are conscious," said he, "that no effort of ours can 
prevent ii~ passage, and the consequent accomplishment of a 
dissolution of the Union, and the overthrow and abandonment 
of our constitution of government. We can only, in the uanie 
of the < institution, in the name of the republic, in the name of 

all we hold dear on earth, earnestly, solemnl} protest against 
this action of this < longress." 



Ml KY RECONSTRUCTION ACT. 547 






Mr. LeBlond said that " the passage of this bill would be the 
death-knell of republican liberty upon this continent/' He de- 
clared his willingness, if a sufficient number on his side <>!' the 
House would stand by him, to resist to the utmost extremity of 
physical exhaustion the passage of this bill, which would "strike 
a death-blow to this Government." 

Mr. Steven- would not be discourteous to those who wen op- 
posed to this bill: "I am aware," said he, "of the melancholy 
feelings with which they arc approaching this funeral of the 
nation." He was unwilling-, however, to lose the opportunity 
to pass the bill at once, and send it to the Senate, that the 
House might proceed to other matters. 

The vote was taken, and the House passed the bill over the 
President's veto— yeas, 135; nays, 48. The announcement of 
this result was followed by great applause on the floor and in 
the galleries. 

The immense numbers that had assembled in the galleries of 
the House to witness these proceedings went immediately to the 
other end of the Capitol to see the reception which the Veto 
Message would receive in the Senate. The consideration of the 
subject, however, was deferred until the evening --don. 

The Veto Message having been read in the Senate by the Sec- 
retary, the pending question at once became whether the hill 
should pass notwithstanding the objections of the President? 

Mr. Johnson advocated the passage of the bill over the veto. 
" It contains," said he speaking of the President's message, " some 
legal propositions which are unsound, and many errors of reason- 
ing. I lament the course be has thought it his duty to pursue, 
because 1 see that it may result in continued turmoil and peril, 
not oily to the South, but to the entire country. I see before 
me •■> distressed, a desolated country, and in the measure before 
you 1 think I see the means through which it may be rescued 
and restored erelong to prosperity and a healthful condition, and 
the free institution- of our country preserved." 

In reply to a charge of inconsistency brought against him by 
Mr. Buckalew, Mr. Johnson said: "Consistency in a public man 
can never properly be esteemed a virtue when lie becomes satis- 
fied that it will operate to the prejudice of his country. The 
pride of opinion, which more or less belongs to us all, becomes, 
in my judgment, in a public man, a crime when it is indulged 



THE THIRTT-.YIXTH I \ Gl 

at the - xifici or hazard of the j nil » 1 i * - - I He urged upon 

ill, ; if the South their acccptaiv I I ms propos 

bv ( '"! In view of tin- probability rtures should 

be rejeci d. harsher m 'asures would be res 

Mr. Saulsbury expressed his admiration for I •'.-' 
Pr in "vetoing rlt<- most iniquitous lull that ever w 

presented to the federal Congress." 
there may be no man within the limits of th - Sta 

will participate in his own disgrace, degradation, and ruin: . 
them maintain their honor, it'll, wrath in the vials 

tin' Almighty, if there be arrows of vengeance in his quiver, su 
iniquity and injustice can not finally prov< - ssful." 

Mr. Hendricks disagreed with the Sen::- laware that 

the people of the South, at once and without consideration, m 
turn their hacks upon the proposition now made them in or< 
to maintain their honor. He hoped they would bring to the 

■ isideration of the subjeci the coolest judgment and the higlx 
patriotism. He was -till opposed to the bill; he approved 
the President's veto. His judgment against the measure had 
hem " fortified and strengthened by that able document." 

The discussion of the question was conti •> Messrs. Buck- 

alew, Dixon, and Davis, who spoke againsl ill. The frien 

of the measure were content to let the sub ■ without a fur- 

ther word from them, save the solemn and final declaration ■■• 
their votes. 

The question being taken, the hill I over the \ 

by a vote of almost four-fifths. Thi ighl Senators voted for 

the hill in its final passage, and bul found willing to 

stand by the President and his veto. 

The hill whose progress through < oi thus been traced 

became a law of the land in the followi m: 

\ , provide for the more efficient governin 

■• Wl no legal S i - or ade jual 

iw exists in the reb Stat • Virginia, \ Carolina, South 

Carolina, f! isippi, Alahania, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and 

Vrkan -• - and it is ne lessary that p r should he 

enforced in said States until loyal and rej Sta omenta can he 

Legally established therefore, 

■ /;. § // f the V 

States of America in \ I I States shall be 

divided into milium districts and made subji ry authority 



MILITARY RECONSTRUCTION ACT. 5A9 



•.* 



the United States, as hereinafter prescribed; and for thai purpose Vir 
shall constitute the first district, North Carolina and South Carolina the 
second district, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida the third district, Mississippi 
and Arkansas tin' fourth district, and Louisiana and Texas the fifth dist 

"Sec. 2. Ana . That it shall be the duty of the I 

ident lu assign to the command of each of said districts an officer oi 
army not below the rank of brigadier general, and to detail a sufficient 
military force to enable such officer to perform his duties and enforce his 
authority within the district to which he is assigned. 

"Sec. 3. And be itfurtl Thai it shall be the duty of each i B 

assigned, as aforesaid, to protect all persons in their rights of person ind 
property, to suppress insurrection, disorder, and violence, and to punish, or 
cause to be punished, all disturbers of the public peace and criminals, and 
to this end he may allow local civil tribunals to take jurisdiction of and to 
try offenders, or when in his judgmenl ir may be necessary for the trial of 
offenders he shall have power to organize military commissions or tribunals 
for that purpose, and all interference, under color of State authority, with 
exercise of military authority under this act shall l>e null and void. 

"Sec. 4.' And ■ ■''. That all persons puf under military 

arrest by virtue of this act shall be tried without unnecessary delay, and no 
cruel or unusual punishment shall be inflicted, and no sentence of any mil- 
itary commission or tribunal hereby authorized, affecting the life or liberty 
of any person, shall be executed until it is approved by the officer in 
mand of the distri : and the laws and regulations for the governmi ., i 
army shall not be ai ;. this act, except in so far as they conflic 

its provisions: I I That no sentence of death under the provi io 
this act shall be carried into effect without the approval of the Preside; 

"Sec. 5. And 6< ■'■_ That when the people of any one oi 

rebel States shall have formed a constitution of government in coi 
with the Constitution of the I nited States in all respects, framed I . .■ 
ven ion of di elected by the male citizens of said State tw< n 

vears old and upward, of whatever race, color, or previous condition, 
have been resident in said State for one year previous to the day of - 
election, except such as may be disfranchised for participation in the n ; n 

or for felony at common law, and when sue! ution shall providi I i 

the elective franchise shall lie enjoyed by all such persons as have the quali- 
fications herei ■ 1 tor electors of delegates, and when such Constil 
shall be ratified by a majority of the persons voting on the question 
cation who are qualified a- electors for d . and when such constiti 
shall have b tted to Congress lor examination and approval, and 

press shall have approved the same, and when said St; 
its Legislatun d under said constitution, shall have adopted the ail 

ment to the Constitution of the United ; a proposed by the Thirty-ninth 
Congress, and known a- article fourteen, and when said article shall 
become a part of the Constitution of the United St id State shall be 

declared entitled to repr n ii Coi tnd Senators and Repn 

atives shall be admitted therefrom on their taking th ith prescribed by law, 

and then and thereafter the precedin ns of this act shall be in* p 



550 THE THIRTY-NLYTH COJ\ 

in - Th • • ion excluded B : 

i ti _r office by said proposed amendment to the < tion <>t' the I'luted 

to election as a memb( 
or an; aor shall tin for 

ich convention. 
- • That, until the ?aid 

atation in th 
- teg civil government which may exist there ii - pro- 

only, and in all respects subject to the paramount authority of I 
I |. ■ me i" abolish, modify, control, 

: in all e •■ under such provisiona a 

• shall be entitled t< and none - who are 

tli. us of the Hi mi ..!' this act; and no person shal 

to any office under such provisional governments who would ualified 

from holding office under the provisions " ; ' the third s Co istitu- 

tiona! Amendment. 

The friends of this measure were dissatisfied with it on the 
ground of its incompleteness in not containing provisions for car- 
rying it into effect in accordance with the purpose of it- trainers. 
This record would be incomplete without a statement of what 

was done to perfect the measure in the suec ling Congn 

The Fortieth C ss, meeting on the 1th of March, immedi- 

ately upon the close >l* it- predecessor, proceed liout delay to 

perfect and pass over the President's veto a bill supplementary 
to the act to provide for the more efficient anient of the 

rebel ' By this act it was provided that the commanding 

general of each district should cause a registration to 1"- made of 
the male citizens twenty-one year- of age in liis district, qualified 
t*i vote under the former act. In order to be registered as a 
voter under this act, a person is required to -wear that he has 
not been disfranchised for participation in any rebellion or civil 
war against the United States, nor for felony : that he has never 
been a member of any State Legislature, nor held any executive 
oi j idicial office in any State and afterward engaged in insure 
tion or rebellion againsl th< United States, or given aid or com- 
fort to the i tfj that lie has never taken an oath as 
a member of < ' ingress of the United State-, or as a member of 
an " Legislature, or i executive or judicial officer of any 
Stale, to support til- Constitution of the United Si -. and aft 
wad engaged in insurrection or rebellion againsl the United 
Stat'->, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof, and that 



MILTT. 1 R I ' E Et 'OBSTRUCTION ■ ICT. 551 

he will faithfully support the Constitution and obey the laws of 
the United States, and encourage others to do so. 

Persons thus qualified shall vote at elections held for the pur- 
pose of selecting delegates to the conventions for training consti- 
tutions for the States. 

A majority of voter- so qualified shall determine whether con- 
stitutional conventions shall he held in the several States, and 
shall vote for delegates who shall be as numerous as the members 
of the most numerous branch of the Legislature of such State in 
the year 1860. This convention having framed a constitution, 
it -hall be submitted to the people, and if ratified by a majority 
of the qualified voters, it shall be forthwith transmitted to Con- 
gress. If this constitution is satisfactory to Congress, and found 
to he in accordance with the provisions of the act of which this 
is supplementary, the State shall be declared entitled to repre- 
sentation. All elections are required to be by ballot, and all 
officers acting under the provisions of this act are required to 
take the test oath. 



,;,-,.' THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

OTHER [MPORTANT A' I 

I i.izim. Bounties — The Army — The Department of Education— South- 
ern BOMESTEADS -The BANKRUPT L.AW — THE TARIFF — REDUC riOM OF TAXES 

— Contracting the Currency — Issue of Three Peb < ents. — Nebraska 
AND Cc! I sure of Ofj 

THE great national measures, whose progress through Con- 
3S has been given in detail, occupied the attention of 
that body continuously, from the first days of its existence 
to the closing hours of its la-t session. No day passed whi 
was not rendered important by something said or dune upon 
questions which concern not only the nation, but humanity, and 
which are of interest not only for the present, but for all time 
to come. While these great measures were passing through Con- 
gress, making it memorable, and absorbing the public attention, 
there was a constant undercurrent of patient, laborious legislation 
upon subjects of less interest to the public, but of real impor- 
tance to the country. 

One of the first duties devolving upon the Thirty-ninth Con- 
- was the -reat work of disbanding the vasl volunteer army 
which had suppressed the rebellion, saved the country, and earned 
the undying gratitude of the nation. The soldiers of the repub- 
lie were to be paid for their distinguished services, their reason- 
able demand- for equalization of bounty were to be met, and a 
suitable number retained in the service for the necessities of the 
nation on a "peace footing." Near the close of the first session, 
a bill to equalize soldiers' bounties passed the House by a nearly 
unanimous vote, but was defeated in the Senate. This measure 
was at length carried by attaching it to the Civil Appropriation 
Bill in such a way that it could not be easily disengaged. Near 



IMPORTANT ACTS. 553 

tlw close of the first session. Congress passed the " A.c1 to incr 
and iix the military peace establishment of the United Stat 
By this law the regular army consists of live regiments of artil- 
lery, ten regiments of cavalry, and forty-five regiments of in- 
fantry. It acknowledged the services and claims of the volunteer 
officers and men who served in the recent war by providing tin'.; 
a large proportion of the commissions in the new service sin 
In- conferred upon them. At the same time the standard of at- 
tainment and talent was not lowered, since the law provided for 
such an examination as must exclude the unqualified and relieve 
the army from some who unworthily held commissions. 

The important fact that general intelligence is one of the 
greatest safeguards of the nation was fully recognized by the 
Thirty-ninth Congress. Of this they gave permanent proof in 
establishing a Bureau of Education. Early in the first session, 
Mr. Donnelly, of Minnesota, introduced a resolution instructing 
the joint Committee on Reconstruction to impure into the expe- 
diency of establishing a National Bureau of Education "to enforce 
education, without regard to color." The necessity lor such a 
measure was set forth in the preamble to arise from the fact that 
"republican institutions can find permanent safety only upon the 
basis of the universal intelligence of the people," and that "the 
great disasters which have afflicted the nation and desolated one- 
half its territory are traceable in a great degree to the absence 
of common school- and general education among the people of 
lately rebellious States." This resolution passed the House by a 
large majority. 

This subject was subsequently referred to an able selecl co 
mittee, of which Mr. Garfield was chairman. On the 5th of 
June he reported a hill to establish a Department of Education. 
The measure was supported by Messrs. Donnelly, Garfield, Banks, 
and Boutwell, and opposed \)y Messrs. Dike. Rog< rs, and Ran- 
dall. The hill passed the House on the DHh of -lime and w 
to the Senate, where it was referred to the Commitl e on the 
Judiciary. The hill went over, in the pros of busiu --. to the 
second session, and passed the Senate on the 28th of February, 
18G7. 

A measure indirectly connected with the subject of i ruc- 

tion, destined to have an important influence upon the futun 
Southern society, was introduced by Mr. Julian on the 7th of 



51 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

February, 1866. This was a bill for the disposal of the public 
lands for homesteads to actual settlers, without distinction of 
color, in the States of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, 
and Florida, providing that the quantity of land selected by any 
one person should be eighty acres, and not one hundred and sixty 
acres, as provided in the Homestead Bill of L862. The necessity 
of this measure, as shown by Mr. Julian, arose from the abolition 
of slavery and the demand- of free labor. It was designed to cut 
off land speculation in the Southern country. " Without some 
provision of this kind."' said Mr. .Julian, "rebel speculators now 
hovering over the whole of that region, and hunting up the best 
portion of it, and the holder- of Agricultural College scrip can 
come down upon it at one fell swoop and cheat the actual settler, 
whether white or Mack, out of his rights, or even the possibility 
of a home in that region, driving the whole of them to some 
of our Western Territories or to starvation itself." 

The bill was finally passed in the House on the 28th of Febru- 
ary, L867, with an amendment excluding from the benefit of the 
aet persons who have borne arms against the United States, or 
given aid and comfort to its enemies. 

A work of legislation of much importance, destined to h 
beneficent effect upon the business interests of the country, was 
the passage of the Bankrupt Law, which was finally cuacl I 
the close of the Thirty-ninth Congress. The Bankrupt Bill 
passed the House of Representatives as early as May, 1866, but 
the Senate objecting to the entire principle of the bill, it was 
postponed till December. < >n the reassembling of Congress for 
the second session, the consideration of the Bankrupt Bill was 
resumed, and after much opposition in the Senate, it finally re- 
ceived the support of a decisive majority in thai body of all 
shades of politics. The perfection and final passage of this 
»ure were among the last acts of the Thirtv-ninth Congress. 

The Bankrupt Law of 1800 was enacted in the interest of 
creditors, and that of 1841 for the benefit of debtors. The law 
of 1867 was framed with a view to protect the interests of both 
parties. The passage of this important law is due mainly to the 
energy and perseverance of Thomas A. Jenckes, of Rhode Island. 

The subject of the tariff occupied, first an I last, a considerable 
share of the time and attention of the Thirty-ninth Congress. 
\n the early part of the first session numerous petition- poured 



IMPORTANT ACTS. 555 

in upon Congress in favor of a protective tariff, in June and 
July the subject was discussed, and a Tariff Bill passed the 
House by a vote of ninety-four to fifty-three. The friends of 
protection said of this bill that though not perfect, it was "a 
decided improvement on the tariff in existence." The bill, on 
its introduction to the Senate was postponed till December. 

There was soon after introduced into the House a revised 
Tariff Bill, entitled a bill "to protect the revenue." Gradually 
many of the features which the advocates of protection regarded 
:is most important, were eliminated from the bill. This was 
passed in the Senate on the 24th of July, with amendments in 
which the House was unwilling to concur. A Committee of 
Conference was appointed, who made a report which was accepted 
by both Houses of Congress. The hill greatly modified and 
"enfeebled" a- its original friends regarded it, finally passed on 
the dav before the close of the first session. 

The subject of diminishing taxation, as far as consistenl with 
the obligations of the nation to its creditors, early enlisted and 
occupied the attention of the Thirty-ninth Congress. The prin- 
ciple upon which Congress acted was announced by the distin- 
guished chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, Mr. 
Morrill, to be " The abolition or speedy reduction of all taxes 
which tend to check development, and the retention of all those 
which lih the income tax fall chiefly on realized wealth." 

In the midst of many conflicting interests and in the face of 
remonstrance^ protests, and prayers from every trade and profes- 
sion ( ss proceeded to work out the difficult question. As 
a result of most patient and careful investigation, Congress found 
itself aide to reduce to the extent of one hundred millions of 
dollars p annum, the taxation resting upon the shoulders of the 
American people. 

On the subject of finance and the national currency great di- 
v srsity of opinion existed among leading members of the Thirty- 
ninth Congress. Unanimity prevailed upon the opinion thai the 
currency should sooner or later be subjected to suitable contrac- 
ti n. but there was diversity of sentiment as to the ways and 
means by which this result should be achieved without involving 
the country in commercial and financial disaster. 

" 1 am for specie payments." remarked Mr. Stevens, on one 
occasion, "when we can arrive at them without crushing the 



556 THE Til I II TT-. \ 7. V Til < 

community to death. I am for arriving at specie pa; 
.-till allowing the business of the country to y ! thrive, 

;i;id the people engaged in business to pay the ta: tich you 

impose on them. 1 say thai there i- not a man in I ununity 

who would not as soon have one dollar in gn dol- 

lar in gold. No one expects to be paid in gold ti 
resumption by the bank- of specie payment; nobody now 
any other currency than gre nbacks, and, th I am in favor 
of keeping that currency. In my judgment, we l»av< not more 
circulation now than the expanded business of tin uutry re- 
quit 

•• This war has given an immense impulse to every thi 
Whence this precipitation? We have barely got the war 

against the rebels before we have a war made upon the busi 
community, upon the manufacturing interests, and upon 
others." 

" When this greal Republican party was made up," said Mr. 
Wentworth, "we, who were originally Democrats, took up a cross, 
and it was a great cross. [Laughter.] We were told that if we 
went into that thing, we should have to lay down t of 

the irresponsible paper-money men. Now, 1 ■■, know of 

the gentleman distinctly, whether, if he could, he 
specie payments to-morrow '.' " 

"it'.'" replied Mr. Stevens, " 1 could have specie pay men 1 I 
morrow, without deranging the business of the country, t wo 
[f it would derange the business of the country to return to 
specie payment at once, 1 would postpone it a little. 1 v< 
the Legal-tender Bill; and 1 am glad I did so, for the com 
would nol have survived without it." 

•• Would you compromise on a year?" asked Mr. Wentwo 

•• No, sir; nor on two year-," replied Mr. Stevens. " England 
did not resume specie payment the year after t 
France. The Bank of England issued paper moi it the 

Government had £14,01 stock of that bank to give 

icurity, and the Government prevented it from resuming 
specie paymenl until it I it b st. Now. when 

war of twenty-five year- was over, did England at: in 1814 

and 1815, to return to specie payment? They had afloat 
£20,000,000, or $100,000,000, and they began wit ir one- 

pound notes. In a few year- they took their two-] 



IMPORTANT ACTS. 557 

srward they took their five-pound notes. But they never re- 
sumed full ?pecie payment until the latter pad of the year L822. 
Does my friend from [llinois expeci me to be wiser than the 
■ real men of England '.' " 

"Does my friend from Pennsylvania deny," asked Mr. Gar- 
Id, "that in 1819 the law for resuming specie payment was 
• ?sed, to go into effect gradually at first, and completely in 
23, and that the full resumption of specie payment actually 
k place early in the Spring of 1821 — only about a year and 

- uarters from the passage of the law?" 
"Yes," answered Mr. Stevens, "except in very large sums. 
The law authorized them to go on until the first of .January, 
1823." 

"But they resumed in 1821, about a year and three-quarters 
earlier," said Mr. Garfield. 

•• About a year earlier," said Mr. Stevens. "But the law did 
.. i pass until four years after the war. Do gentlemen here ex- 
pect, when England, with almost all the commerce of the world 
at her command, was unable to resume specie payments for eight 
irs ifter the conclusion of her wars, and then did it by such 
gradual legislation that there should be no shock to the business 
of the country — do gentlemen expect that we are to put it into 
the power of one man to compel the resumption of specie pay- 
ments in a single year'.' " 

"I want to know," said Mr. Wentworth, "if the power, and 
■ • patronage, and the influence of the great Republican party, 
called, is to be used to deprive us of our natural standard 
Now, T wish, while we go together, to be perfectly 
nest. Nobody respects the talents of my friend from Pennsyl- 
vania [Mr. Stevens] more than 1 do. He know- more than all 
is put together. [Laughter.] I want him to state to the 
nise, fairly and candidly, whether, if we follow him, he will 

■ \ us to specie payment; or whether, if he could, he would." 
'•I will say to my friend," replied Mr. Steven.-, "that in this 

rts,. I do not act as a member of the Republican party." 

"1 have followed the gentlemen," -aid Mr. Wentworth, ''he- 
cause I supposed him to he a Republican leader." 

"If I believed," -aid Mr. Stevens, "that we could resume 
specie payments in a month without crushing the int - of 

■ country, without injuring the laborer, without hreaking 



55 s rn /•; y II 1 1; r ) -. \ v. \ • 77/ ctfjn ; ze ess 

down the manufacturer, without oppressing th< le, without 

decreasing the revenues of the Government; it* I ! power, 

1 would order every bank in the country, State and national, 
and the Government also, to resume specie paym< 

"Suppose McCulloch could do that," said Mr. Wentworth, 
••and give all our boys their money at par." 

"• It' lie could do it. I would give him great i id Mr. 

Stevens. 

■• 1 believe he can," said Mr. Wentworth. 

• My friend is large," said Mr. Stevens, "and ith like 

two grains of mustard-seed." 

Plans were devised, and ultimately carried through Congr - . 
by winch the great volume of paper currency should be gradually 
reduced at a certain fixed rate, so thai the people might know 
how to calculate the future, and be enabled to provide ag 
commercial crash. 

The first measure designed to accomplish this result was popu- 
larly called the Loan Bill, which was amendatory of an act "to 
provide ways and mean- to support the Government." When 
first considered, in March, 1866, it was defeated in the Hon--. 
It was soon after brought up again in a modified form, and 
passed both the House and Senate by large majorities. The act 
provide,! thai the Secretary of the Treasury might revive treas- 
ury notes, <>r "other obligations issued under any act of < 
gress," in exchange for bonds. The contraction of the currency 
was restricted and limited by the provision thai not more than 
ten millions of dollars might be retired and canceled within six 
months from the passage of the act, and thereafter not more than 
lour millions of dollars in any one month. 

A financial problem ot* great importance presented itself 
solution in the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress. A 
large amount of compound-interest note-, weighed down with 
accrued interest, had ceased to float as currency, and lay in the 
vaults of the banks and the coffers of capitalists, awaiting re- 
demption. The question arose as to how thev should he re- 
deemed, and the nation saved the payment of the immense 
amounts of interest which must accumulate in course of time. 
The House of Representatives proposed to pass an act author- 
izing and directing the Secretary of the Treasury to issue legal- 



IMPORTANT ACTS. 559 

tender notes, without interest, not exceeding * 1 00,000,000, in 
place of the compound-interesi bearing notes. 

To this proposition the Senate would not accede, and passed a 
substitute which the House would not accept. A Committee 
Conference reported a modification of the Senate's substitute, 
which finally became a law, providing that, tor the purpose of 
redeeming and retiring compound-interest notes, the Secretary oi 
the Treasury should issue temporary loan certificates, to the 
amount of $50,000,000, at a rate of interest not exceeding thro 
per cent, per annum. 

While the greater share of the attention of the Thirty-ninth 
Congress was occupied with efforts to reconstruct the eleven 
States which had forfeited their rights by rebellion, the Terri- 
tories of Colorado and Nebraska applied for admission to the 
Union. Congress voted to admit both, but the President ob- 
structed their entrance with his vetoes. Congress, on reconsid- 
eration, admitted Nebraska, the objections of the President to 
the contrary notwithstanding-. Colorado was not so fortunate, 
since her people had been so unwise as to prejudice their cause 
by restricting the enjoyment of political rights by ingrafting t' 
word "white'' into their fundamental law. By this mistake 
they forfeited the favor of the " Radicals," who refused to cham- 
pion their cause against the President. Incidental to this, Con- 
gress ordained that political rights should not he restricted in 
the Territories on account of race or color. 

The manifest evils of unrestricted Executive patronage — the 
bane of American polities — early enlisted the efforts of the 
Thirty-ninth Congress to provide a remedy. A hill to regulate 
appointments to ami removals from office was introduced by Mr. 
Henderson into the Senate near the close of the firsl session, and 
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, but never saw the 
light as an act of Congress. 

The President's power of removal and appointment having 
been unsparingly used during the recess of Congress, the coun- 
try became convinced that a remedy should be applied which 
would be effectual for time to come. On the first day of the 
second session, Mr. Williams brought before the Senate a hill 
to "regulate the tenure of offices," which was subsequently re- 
ferred to the joint Committee on Retrenchment, On the LOth 
of December Mr. Edmunds, chairman of this committee, reported 



30 THE THTRTT-.YLYTH CO.Y 

the bill tn the Senate, with In bringrii rard 

- Mr. Edmunds asserted that thev were acting in no 

spirit <>f hostility t<» any party or administration whs . but 

for ■'ilic true republican interest <>i" the country under all ad- 
ministrations, and under the domination <>t" all parties in the 
growth before tin' nation in the future." After grave considera- 
tion and protracted discuasion in both lion-- of Congress, the 
hill was passed near the close <>{' the session. On the 2d of 
March the hill encountered the veto i>t" the President, who 
in the measure serious interference with the ability <>f the Ex- 
ecutive to keep hi- oath to preserve, protect, and d< fend the 
ititution of the United State-. The hill was immediately 
over the veto without debate. 
The act thus passed provides that officers appointed by ami 
with the advice ami consent of the Senate shall hold their ofl 
until their successors arc in like manner appointed ami qualified. 
Members of the Cabinet hold their offices during the term of 
President by whom thev are appointed, and for one month 
eafter, - bject to removal by consent of the Senate. 



TEE PRESIDENT AND CONGEE 501 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

the president and congress. 

The President's treatment of thk South — First Anntai. Message — Mr. 

Sumner's Criticisji — The Presideni triumphant — Hf. damages his Cause 

Humor of Mr. Stevens — Vetoes overridden — The Question submitted 

to TiiK People — Their Verdict — Summary of Vetoes — Impeachment— 

Charges by Mr. A.rhi.e'v — Report of the Committee. 

r FUIE Thirty-ninth Congress is remarkable for having run 
its entire career with the constant opposition of the Exec- 
utive obstructing its progress. In all representative gov- 
ernments, a contest between the executive and the legislative 
branches of the government has sooner or later arisen, which 
has invariably ended in the defeat of the former. The hopeless- 
ness of the contest on the part of the executive, and the perti- 
nacity with which it has been waged, have given it a mock- 
hcroic character. 

During the months which intervened between the death of 
Abraham Lincoln and the assembling of Congress, Andrew John- 
son had ample time to preoccupy the field and intrench himself 
against what he termed a coordinate branch '• hanging on the 
vorg< of the < Government. " 

In June, 1865, del< from the South were first admitted 

to private interview- with the President. On the 17th of June 
he issued his proclamation providing for the restoration of civil 
government in Georgia and Alabama, in which he excludes 
negroes from the category of loyal citizens entitled to vote. The 
['resident soon after proceeded to appoint provisional governors 
for the Southern States — a step which was viewed with joy by 
the late rebels, and sorrow by the Union men of the North. 
The character of these appointment- may be -ecu in a sentiment 
36 



56 j Till-: nil in j •-. \ v. \ th < ■<>. \ 

uttered by Governor Perry soon after hi- elevation to office: 
"There i- not now in the Southern States," -aid he, "any one 
who feels more bitterly the humiliation and degradation of eoine 
back into the Union than I do.'* Governor Perry saved liim- 

Lf from dismissal by assuring the people that the death of Mr. 
Lincoln was uo loss to the South, while he bad every hope thai 
Mr. Johnson, an old slaveholding Democrat, would be an ad- 
vantage. 

In Alabama, under the provisional government established by 
Mr. Johnson, the convention prohibited negroes from testifying 
in the courts. Rebels throughout the South at once began to 
make their arrangements for taking part in the government. In 
November, Governor Perry made a public demand that when 
Congress met the Clerk of the House should place on the- roll 
the names of representatives from the rebel States. 

When South Carolina hesitated to adopt the Constituti< 
Amendment abolishing slavery, President Johnson assured the 
Governor that the clause giving Congress the power to enforce it 
by appropriate legislation really limited congressional control 
over the negro question. Alter this assurance, South < 'arolina 
pted the Constitutional Amendment. 

In August and September, 1865, Democratic conventions in- 
dorsed the President's policy, and Democratic papers began to 
praise him. Republicans were unwilling to believe that they 
had Inch deserted, and hoped that alter the assembling of Con- 

ss all differences would disappear. 

The message <>f the President, read at the opening of the 
Thirty-ninth Congress, placed him in direct opposition to the 
leaders of the Republican party, and at variance with his own 
policy. •" A concession of the elective franchise," said lie, " to 
the freedmen, 1>\ act of the President of the United States, must 
have been extended to all colored men, wherever found, and must 
have established a change of suffrage in the Northern, Middle, 
and Western States, not less than in the Southern and South- 
western." 

Every one could see that the Presidenl possessed a- much 
power to admit the black man to the righl of suffrage in the 

rebel States a- to appoint provisional governors over them. 

While Congress was in -••.--ion, and actuall) employed in leg- 
islating for the restoration of the rebel States, Mr. Johnson sub- 



THE PRESIDENT .!.Y1> CONGRESS. 563 

stantially declared that Congress had no control over the subject, 
by removing the provisional governor of Alabama, and handing 
the State Government over to the officers elected by the pe , le. 

The Senate having requested information from the Presid< 
as to the condition of the rebel States, the President, on the 20th 
of December, sent in a message which Mr. Sumner characterized 
as an attempt to "whitewash" the unhappy condition of the 
rebel Smtes. The message of the President was accompanied by 
reports from General Grant and General Schurz, in which Con 
gress found evidence that the late rebels had little sense of na- 
tional obligation, and were chiefly anxious to regain politic ! 
power, and compensate themselves for the loss of slavery by 
keeping the negroes in abject servitude. 

The passage of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, by a large ma- 
jority in Congress, and its veto by the President, presents the 
next phase in the contest. To Republicans the most alarming 
feature in the Veto Message was the evidence it gave that the 
President was ready at once to give to traitors who had fought 
fiercely for four years to destroy the Union an equal voice with 
loyal men in determining the terms of its reconstruction. 

In this instance the President prevailed. The bill failed to 
pass over the veto, from the fact that six Senators — Dixon, D< 
little, Morgan, Norton, Stewart, and Van Winkl* — who had 
voted for the bill, now sided with the President. This was the 
first and last triumph of the President. 

Two days after, on the 22d of February, the President greatly 
damaged his cause by denouncing a Senator and a Represent- 
ative, and using the slang of the stump against the Secretary of 
the Senate in the midst of an uproarious Washington mob. The 
people were mortified that the Executive of the nation should 
have committed so serious an indiscretion. 

The incident received notice in Congress in a humorous speech 
of Thaddeus Stevens, who declared that the alleged speech could 
never have been delivered; that it was "a part of the cunning 
contrivance of the copperhead party, who have been persecuting 
our President;" that it was "one of the grandest hoaxes evei 
perpetrated." 

Congress, now aware that it must achieve its greatest works of 
legislation over the obstructing veto of the President, moved for- 
ward with caution and deliberation. Every measure was well 



56 Till'. Tim;T)--.\ rrxTH CO.A 

wei hi I carefully matured, since, in order to win ; ' ■ to 

tL' of a triumphant majority in Congress and the country, 

must be as free as possible from all objection 

Impartial sutt'rac provided in the District fColum 5ui 

frage Bill, bei ig a subject upon which the people had not vet 
spo - iate determined that it would be : to risk 

the uncertainty of passing the measure over the inevitable veto 
until the people should have an opportunity of speaking at : 
l>allot-box . 

The President applied his veto to the Civil Bill and 

t\s> I 'dinen's Bureau Bill, l>nt :i majority of more than 

the requisite two-thirds placed these measures among the laws of 
the land, hi the House presentatives, Mr 1 was 

the only Republican member who voted to - the veto uf 

the Civil Rights Bill. The temptation to be friends of the IV - 
ident, in order to aid him in tli<' distribution of . a 

very great with members of Congrreas, and the wonder is that - 
many were able to reject it all, and adhere to principles against 
which the Executive brought to bear all his power of opposition. 

On the adjournment of Congress in duly, at thi * f the 
fir.-f session, the contest was -till continued, though in anoth 
arena. Members of ( 'ongress went to their several districts, sub- 
mitted their doings ir constituents, and took council of the 
people, The President also traversed the States from the Atlan- 
tic t'> the Mississippi. He made numerous spe - and endeav- 
ored to popularize his policy. 

The people gave their verdict at the ballot-box in favor of 
Congress. The reelection of Congress was the rejection of 
President. The ruin of the President's fortunes was shared b) 
his followers. No gentleman ever entered the Housi of Repre- 

itatives with more eclat than that with which Mr. Raymond 
took Id- seat as a member of the Thirty-ninth Congi -. but his 

nstituents did not see proper to elect him for a second term. 
Delano and Stillwell, of the West, were left at home. Cowan. 
in the Senate, elected -i\ years before as a Republican, was super- 
seded, and Doolittle was instructed by his legislature to resign. 

The message of the President at the openh ; rod 

don displayed no disposition to yield to fch< to Con- 

He declared to a State delegation that wai him that 

lie was too old to learn. 



THE PRESIDENT AMD CONGRESS. 

One of the first acts of Congress after reassembling was to 
accept, the sanction of the people for impartial suffrage, and pass 
the District Suffrage Bill over the President's veto. The Presi- 
dent deemed it due to his consistency to return bills, with his 
"objections thereto in writing," to the very last, Among the last 
doings of the Thirty-ninth Congress was the passage of theTenure- 
of-offioe Bill and the Military Reconstruction Bill over vetoes. 
In humiliating contrast with the circumstances one year before, 
when the veto of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill prevailed, the vein 
of the Military Reconstruction Bill had hut ten supporters in the 
Senate. 

The following is a complete list of the hills vetoed by the 
President during the Thirty-ninth Congress, and of the hills 
which were passed over the veto, and those which became i ■- 
without the President's signature: 

First Session— To enlarge the powers of tin- Freedmen's Bureau; vetoed 
February 19, 1866. 

To protect all persons in the United States in their civil rights, and furnish 
the mean 1 -; of their vindication; vetoed; and passed, April 9, 1866, over veto. 

For the admission of the State of Colorado into the Union; vetoed May, 
1866. 

To enable the Montana and New York Iron Mining and Manufacturing 
Company to purchase a certain amount of the public lands not now in mar- 
ket; vetoed June. 1866. 

To continue in force and to amend an act entitled "an act to establish a 
bureau tor the relief of freedmen and refugees, and for other purpos* 
.■• ed; passed, July 16, 1866, over veto. 

For the admission of the State of Nebraska into the Union; not signed; 
failed through the adjournment of Congress. 

Second Session. — To regulate the elective franchise in the Distri t Co- 
lumbia; vetoed; passed, January 8, 1867, over veto. 

To admit: of Colorado into the Union; vetoed January 18, L867 

For the admission of the State of Nebraska into the Union; vel ■ I I, 

February 9, 1867, over veto. 

To provide for the more efficient government <>( the insurrectionary - 
vetoe 1. passed, March -2, L867, over 

To regulate the tenure of office - ; . March 2, 1867, >•■ 

Bills which, became laws without the Pres re, the const 

limit of ten days having expired without th m: 

To repeal section 13 of "an act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason 
and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other pur- 
poses," approved July 17, L862; became a law January 22, 1867. 



:> THE Till in )--.\l\Tii COJ\ VS. 

Ti the franchise in the T United im? 

1 iiarj 

the duties uf the Clerk of I 
: nization - ■. and for other pur - 

ruarj 
To i itled " it 1 1 act to restrict tin- jui 

C urt of Claims, and to provid rment of certain demands for 

quartermasb re's id subsistence supplies furnished to the army of the 

Unil - ■ became a law February 22, I 367 

tion. — Vetoes, I": pocl toes, 1; la 

s sustain I I became laws without signature, I 

- President Johnson proceeded in his career of opposition 
the legislative branch of the Government, the conviction fasti 
upon the minds of some that he was guilty of crimes rendering 
liim liable to impeachment. On the 7th of January, L867, Hen. 
James M. A.shley, of* Ohio, brought before the House of Repre- 
sentatives articles of impeachment, as follows: 

"I ' lent and acting President of the 

• s, of high crimes ;in<l misdemeanors. 
:harge him with a usurpation of power and violation of law: 
■• In that he has corruptly used the appointing powi 
. I tat he has corruptly used the pardoni 
thai !> • lias corruptly used tl 
■■ il he has corruptly di 
"In thai he lias corruptly interfered in el serious, and committed acts which, 
i mplation of the Coi I ri, are high crimes and misdemeanors; 

'i 

rhat the Committee on the Judiciary be, and thej 
[uire into the official conduct of And [ 

c United States, discharging th -s and duties of the offic i 

! • o!' the Unil id. Si ind to report to this House whether, in their 

said Andrew Johns m, while in said office, ha 
<'•■ ~ id or calculated I hrow, subvei rrupt th 

: States, o tment or office thereof; and 

i "indrew J linson hi ' any act, <>r lias conspii i with 

which, in contei the Constitul h crimed 

lemi anors, reqniring the inti n of the 

and thai said committee have power to Bend - :tnd 

nd i" administi r th i witi 

This resolution was adopted b\ a vote of one hundred and 
■ thirty-eight. 

r the close of the session, die < lomraittee on tin Judicial 
having in charge the question of impeachment, made .', report. 



THE PRESIDENT AND CONGBESS 567 

The condition in which the subject was left by the Thirty-ninth 
Congress will be seen from the following extract: 

"The duty imposed upon the committee by this action of the House 
of the highest and gravest character. No committee, during the entire his- 
tory of the Government, has ever been charged with a more important trust. 
The responsibility which it imposed was of oppressive weight and of m 

unpleasant nature Gladly would tin mmittee have escaped from the 

arduous labor imposed upon it by the resolution of the House; but once 
imposed, prompt, deliberate, and faithful action, with a view to correct results 
became its duty, and to tin- end it has directed it- efforts. 

"Soon after the adoption of the resolution by the House, the Hon. James 
M. .\-ii]r\ communicated to the committee, in support of hi-- charges against 
the President id' the United Stat.-, such facts as were in his possession, ami 
tiir investigation was proceeded with, and has been continued almost without 
.1 day's interruption. A large Dumber of witnesses have been examined, 
many documents collected, and every thing done which could !"• dune to 
reach a conclusion of the case. But the investigation covers a broad field, 
(braces many novel, interesting, and important questions, and involves a 
multitude of facts, while must of the witnesses are distant from the capital, 
owing to which, the committee, in view of the magnitude of tin' inter. 
involved in its action, has not been aide to conclude its labors, and is not. 
therefore, prepared to submit a definite and dual report. If the investigation 
had even approached compli teness, tie' committee would not feel authorized 
to present the result to the House at this late period of the session, unles 
the charge had been so entirely negatived as to admit of no discussion 
which, in the opinion id' the committee, is not the ease. Certainly, no affirm- 
ative report eould be properly considered in the expiring hours of this 
( !ongress. 

"The committee, not having fully investigated all the charges preferred 
against the President of the United States, it i< deemed inexpedient to sub- 
mit any conclusion beyond the statement that sufficient testimony has been 
brought to it- notice to justify and demand a further prosecution of the 
investigation. 

"The testimony which the committee has taken will pass into the custody 
of the Clerk of the House, and can go into the hand- id' such committee as 
may be charged with the duty of bringing this investigation to a close, so that 
the labor expended upon it may not have Keen in vain. 

■•The committee regrets its inability definitely to dispose of tin- important 
subject committed to its charge, and presents this report for i : - own justifica- 
tion, and for the additional purpose of notifying the succei Congress of 
the incompleteness of its labors, and that they should he complet 

With the acceptance of this report, the impeachment was at an 
end so (hi- as the action <>t' the Thirty-ninth Congress was con- 
cerned. The subject was handed over to ;' sideration of the 

Fortieth Congres 



Ill /•; 7 II I R TI'-A 7. \ 7 // ( ' >. \ 'I i U ESS. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

personal. 

ssted Seats — Mr. Stockton vi . Himself- — New Jersey's loss 

of two Senators — Losses ok Vermont — Suicide of James II I. 
Death in the House — General Scott — Lincoln's Eulogy and Statue — 
Mr. Sumner on Fine Arts in the Capitol — Censure of Mr. Chanli 
Petition for the expulsion of Garret Davl — Grinnell assaulted v.\ 
Rousseai Tin: Action of the House — Leader of the Hoi se. 

\ I A.TTERS of interest relating to the, members of the Thirtv- 
,yl ninth Congress remain to be noticed. Some names of mem- 
bers appear in the opening scenes of Congress which were 
substituted by others before the close. This was occasioned partly 
through successful contests for seats by persons who, after an in- 
ion of their claims, were declared to have been legally 
(1, lint failed, through fraud or mistake, to receive their cre- 
dentials. The right of Mr. Voorhecs, of Indiana, to a scat in 
the Thirty-ninth Congress was ted by Henry P. Washburn. 

The testimony in this case was laid before the Committee on 
Elections early in tin- session, and after patient hearing of the 
parties ami careful consideration of the subject, the committee 
reported in favor of Mr. Washburn and unseated .Mr. Voorl 

The seal in Congress taken at the opening of the session b> 
James Brooks, of New York, was decided by the committee, after 
deration of the chains of t lie contestant, to belong to William 
K. Dodffe, a merchant of New York city. 

The righl of John P. Stockt >n, of New Jersey, to a seal in 
tiie Senate haying been disputed on account of irregularity in 
hi- el letion, the Senate came to a vote on the question, after 
considerable discussion, on the -'■'><{ of March, ism;. Mi-. Stock- 
ton was declared entitled to his place by the close vote of -'2 i< 
21, he giving the decisive vote in favor of himself. There arose 



PERSOjYAL. 569 

a very exciting debate as to tbe right of a Senator to vote for 
himself under such circumstances. Mr. Stockton finally yielded 
to the arguments against his right to sit in judgment on his own 
case, and he was unseated March -27th by a vote of 22 to 21. 
For a time the seat thus vacated, to which New Jersey was en- 
titled in the Senate', remained unoccupied on account of the re- 
fusal of the Republican Speaker of the New Jersey Senate to 
give his vote in favor of the nominee of the Union caucus, Mr. 
Cattell. On account of the nearly equal balance of the partii . 
the choice was long deterred, but eventually made in favor of Mr. 
Cattell. The other seat held by New Jersey in the Senate was. 
practically vacant for a considerable time on account of the ill- 
ness of its incumbent, Mr. William Wright, who consequently 
resigned and eventually died before the expiration of the Thirty- 
ninth Congress. 

Other seats in Congress were vacated by death. Of all the 
States, Vermont suffered most severely in this respect. A part 
of the proceedings of the Thirty-ninth Congress consists of fune- 
ral addresses and eulogies upon Judge Collamer, a distinguished 
Senator from Vermont, whose term of service, had he lived, 
would have expired with the close of this Congress. He died, 
lamented by the nation, on the 8th of November, 1865. Oi 
who took a prominent part in the funeral obsequies of Mr. Col- 
lamer was Solomon Foot, the surviving Senator from Vermont. 
A man termed, from his length of service, "the father of the 
Senate." long its presiding officer, of purest morals, incorruptible 
integrity, and faithful industry, he died universally lamented on 
the 28th of March, 1866. Mr. Foot's death created a profound 
impression, since it exhibited, in a most remarkable manner, the 
effect of Christianity in affording its possessor a happy close of 
life. 

The death of another Senator stands forth in striking eontrasl 
with that of Mr. Foot. On the first of July, 1866, Senat 
James II. Lane -hot himself at Leavenworth, Kansas. While 
on his way home from Washington, when at St. Louis, he hail 
intimated a determination to commit suicide. His friends watel 
him closely, and obtained possession of his pocket-knife lest he 
might use it for the fatal purpose. Mr. Lane having reached 
Leavenworth, two of hi- friend- invited him to ride with them 
on Sabbath afternoon. After getting into the carriage, he 



r>70 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGh 

■ - ! desire to return to hi- room for his cane, refusing 
allow any one to go ti>r him. Mr. Lane having returned 
with his cj ii«-. they drove to the heights overlooking the 
<'iiv. lie entered cheerfully into the conversation, remarking 
upon the beauty of the city and landscape. ( m returning, they 
■ \ to pass through a gate that separated two fields. < >ne of the 
itlemen alighted to open the gate. At the -nine time Mr. 
Line stepped down from the carriage, and, passing around be- 
hind it, said, "Good-by, gentlemen/ 5 and instantly discharged a 
pistol with its muzzle in his mouth. The hall passed oul at the 
p of his head, near the center of the skull, producing a fetal 
wound. The unhappy man lingered for a few days in a - 

unconsciousness and died. Thus ended the stirring, troubled 
life of one who as a politician had occupied no inconsiderable 
space in the public eye. 

A number of seats in the House of Representatives were va- 
cated by death. James Humphrey, an able and honored mem- 
• from New York, died in Brooklyn on the 16th of June, 
1866. During the second session of the Thirty-ninth Con en 
two members of the House of Representatives were removed by 
d i'!i — Philip Johnson, of Pennsylvania, in his third term 
Coi ional service, and Henry Grider, of Kentucky, a veteran 

kvho, having served in Congress from 1843 to 1847, 
was more recently a member of the Thirty-seventh, Thirty-eighth. 
and Thirty-ninth Congresses. 

< '( was called upon to pay funeral honor- tit others than 

i;- members. The death of General Scott, so long the illustrious 
chief of the military establishment of the nation, was regarded 
with due solemnity and honor by Congress, who deputized a 
large committee to attend the funeral obs al Wesl Point. 

statue of the distinguished General was voted by 
< i>ngi lorn the public grounds of the national capitol. 

The name of Abraham Lincoln, ■ martyred Pres- 

ident, was always pronounced with profoundesl respeel and sin- 
env-t gratitude in the halls of Congress. Hi- birthday, February 
12th, was celebrated by the adjournment of Congress, and such 
an assembly as the hall i f Representatives has rarely witnessed, 
hear a eulogy pronounced by Mr. Bancroft, the American 
An appropriation of ten thousand dollars was mad.' 
Miss Virginia Ream, to model a - 



PERSONAL. 571 

of Abraham Lincoln. This proposition elicited an animated 
discussion, and was the occasion of a most interesting address 
by Mr. Sumner on Art in the Capitol. "Surely tins edifice," 
said he, "so beautiful and interesting, should not be opened to 
the experiment- of untried talent. Only the finished artist-, 
should he invited to its ornamentation. 

"Sir, I doubt if you consider enough the character of this 
edifice in which we are now assembled. Possessing the advan- 
tage of an incomparable situation, it is one of the first-cli - 
structures in the world. Surrounded by an amphitheater of 
hills, with the Potomac at its feet, it resembles the capitol in 
Rome, surrounded by the Alban hills, with the Tiber at its feet. 
But the situation Is grander than that of the Roman capitol. 
The edifice itself i- worthy of the situation. It has beauty of 
form and sublimity in proportions, even if it lacks originality 
in conception. In itself it is a work of art. It ought not to 
receive in th • way of ornamentation any thing which is not a 
work of art. Unhappily this rule has not always prevailed, or 
there would not be so few pictures and marbles aboui us worthy 
of the place they occupy. But had pictures and ordinary mar- 
hies should warn us against adding to their number." 

Perhaps i tigress in the history of the country presents 

fewer disagi sable incidents of a personal nature than this. The 
Democrats in Congress being in such a small minority as to be 
unable to do any thing effectual cither to impede or advance 
legislation, could only present their vain protests in words. 
Charing under the difficulties they encountered, it is not sur- 
prising that at times they used language so ill-timed and unpar- 
liamentary as to call forth the censure of the House. 

On one occasion, Mr. Chanler, of New York, submitted a 
resolution " the independent, patriotic, and constitutional 

course of tl ; esidenl of the United States, in seeking to pro- 
teet, by th' power, the rights of the people of this Union 

against the wicked and revolutionary acts of a few malignant 
and mischi - men meets with the approval of this House, 

and deserves the cordial support of all loyal citizens of the 
United She.-." 

for im.i j tin- resolution, the House voted to .ensure 

Mr. Chanler as having "attempted a gross insult to the House." 

Before the vote was taken, Mr. Chanler said: ■' If by my de- 



r>: : THE THIRTY-XIXTR COA 

fiance I could drive your party from this hull, i . dd do - 
it* by my vote 1 could crush you. I would do - ! put the 

whole party, with your leader, the gentleman from I svlvania 
[Mr. Si, ■vcii-j. into that political hell surrounded by bayonets 
referred to by him in his argument on Thursday la* 

ln the Senate a petition was presented from is of N 

York praying that Garret Davis In- expelled fi i § a 

and, "with other traitors, held to answer I ... for his 

crime, since he stood in the attitude of an avowed enemy or' 
the Government" — since he had made the deel; r in refi 

euce to the Civil Rights Bill "that if the lull should beconu 
law, hi- should feel compelled to regard himself as a 
the Government, and to work for its overthrow." 

"It i- true," replied Mi'. Davis, ••that I. used in substance 
the words that arc imputed to nie in that petiti but, as a 
part of their context, 1 used a great many more. A- iple 

of garbling, the petition remind- me of a specim . d I heard 
when 1 was a young man. It was to this effect: 'The Bil 
teaches "thai there is no God."' When those 
in connection with the context, the passage read in the- 

term-: 'The fool hath -aid in his heart that tl God.' 

Thai specimen of the Bible was about as fair ..- t garbled 

!eineiit is of what I said upon the matter to . it r< fers." 

The mosl serious subject coining up for tin sure of 

I lou-e was an assault made by Mr. Rousseau, Kcntuck 

upon Mr. Grinnell, of Iowa. In many of it- u - this 

incident resembles the "affairs" of a personal • ter which 

re of frcquenl occurrence when Southern m< were i,i 

Congress before the war. In February, 1866, M ! isseau, 
in the course of a speech on the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, made 
the remark, " It' you intend to arresl white p a the ■ 

partt statement of negroes, and hold them to sui uven- 

ience for trial, and fine and imprison them, then 1 say that i 
oppose you; ami if you should so arrest and puni . 1 would 

kill you when you set me at liberty." 

To this Mr. Grinnell replied. "1 care not v. . n- 

tleman was lour year- iii the war on the Union wide or four 
vear- on the other -id", lmt 1 say thai he degraded his State and 
uttered a sentiment I thought unworthy of an ' officer 



PERSONAL. 578 

when he said thai he would do such an act on the complaint of 
a negr igainst him." 

To this Mr. Rousseau, on the following day, replied: ''1 pro- 
uounc< tl - rtion that I have degraded my State and uttered 
: sentiment unworthy an American officer to be false, a vile 
>!ander, and unworthy to be uttered by any gentleman upon this 

Some i • - after this, Mr. Rousseau, in a public speech de- 
rcd in Ne\i York city, denounced Mr. Grinnell as a "pitiable 
politician from Iowa." In a speech made in the House on the 
Uth of June, Mr. Rousseau said of Mr. Grinnell: "I do not 
suppose that any member of this House believed a word he said. 
When a member can so far depart from what every body be- 
lieves he ought to know and doe.- know is the truth, it is a 

gradation, not to his State, but to himself." 

•• When any man/' replied Mr. Grinnell — " I care not whether 
■ stand* six feet high, whether he wears buff and carries the 
air ot ertain bird that has a more than usual extremity of 
tail, wanting in the other extremity — says that he would not 
believe what 1 utter, I will say that I was never horn to stand 
under an imputation of that sort. 

"The gentleman begins courting sympathy by sustaining the 
President of the United States preparatory to his assault upon 
Now, sir, if he is a defender of the President of the United 
States, ill I have to say is, God save the President from such 
an incoherent, brainless defender, equal in valor in civil and 
in military life. His military record — who has read it? In 
what \' of history i< it found'.'" 

Mr. Rousseau determined to resent the insult which he con- 
ed to be offered him in this speech by inflicting a bodily 
chastisement upon Mr. Grinnell. On the morning of June 1 Ith. 
Mr. Rousseau informed a military friend of his purpose of flog- 
ging Mr. Grinnell. The person so informed procured a pistol 
and waited in the capitol until the close of the day'- session, in 
order to be present at the flogging and see "fair play." Two 
other friends of Mr. lion— can. also armed with pistols, happened 
to be present when the scene transpired. While Mr. Grinnell 
was passing from the House through the east portico of the cap- 
itol, he was by Mr. Rousseau, who. in an excited manner, 



THE Till l;T)'-.Yl.XT!l COXGIi 

said, " I have waited tour clays for an apology for words spoki 
here upon this floor." 

•• What of that?" asked Mr. Grinnell. 

•• I will teach you what of that," said Mr. Roiu • then 

proceeded to strike Mr. Grinnell about the hea . - 

with a rattan, stopping occasionally to lecture him, and saying, 
"Now, \ i » 1 1 (1 — d puppy and poltroon, look at If." 

After receiving half a dozen blows, Mr. Grinnell exclaimed," I 
do n't want to hurt you." 

"I don't expert you to hurt me, you <l — d Irel," said 

Mr. Roc.-seau, "but you tried to injure me upon the floor of the 
House. And now look at yourself ; whipped here; whipped like 
a dog, disgraced and degraded! Where are your one hundred 
and twenty-seven thousand constituents now ;'" 

A committee was appointed to investigate this disgraceful 
Fair, [n just one month after the transaction, .. eport was 
presented, signed by Messrs. Spalding, Banks, and Thayer, stating 
the facts in the case, and recommending the expulsion of Mr. 
Rousseau. They also proposed a resolution to express isapproval 
of the reflections made by Mr. Grinnell upon the chara :• r of M \ 
Rousseau. The " views of the minority " were als i presented 
Messrs. Raymond and Hogan. They recommended that 
punishment of Mr. Rousseau should be a public reprimand 
the Speaker. After protracted discussion, the li .- came to a 
final decision. The motion to expel, requiring two-thirds, fail i 
by a few votes. The motion l>y which the Speaker was directed 
to publicly reprimand Mr. Rousseau was carried <>te of § I 

to •'!<>. There were not enough in favor of the motion to disap- 
prove of Mr. Grinnell's remarks to call the aye- and noes. Mr. 
Rousseau endeavored to evade the execution of the 
sending his resignation to the Governor of K< .v. i 

House declared that a member could not dissolve mnection 

with the body under such circumstances, without i < >.i 

the 21s1 of July, the execution of the order wa- th< House 
having been demanded, Mr. Rousseau appeared at the bar, when 
the Speaker said. "General Rousseau, the House of Representa- 
tives have declared you guilty of a violation of its rights and 
privileges in a premeditated personal assault upon a member for 
words spoken in debate. This condemnation they have placed 
on their journal, and have ordered that you shall be publicly rep- 



VERS0X.1L. 75 

rimanded by the Speaker at the bar of the House. No words 
dt' mine can add to the force of this order, in obedience to which 
I now pronounce upon you its reprimand." 

Early in the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, an 
interesting case came up relating to the privileges and immuni- 
ties of a member of Congress. Charles V. Culver, Representa- 
tive of the Twentieth District of Pennsylvania, having been en- 
gaged very extensively in banking, made a failure in business. 
In June, 1866, during the session of Congress, one of his cred- 
itors caused his arrest upon a contract for the return of cer- 
tain bonds and notes alleged to have been lent to him, charg _ 
that the debt incurred thereby was fraudulently contracted by 
Culver. In default of required security, Mr. Culver was com- 
mitted to" jail, where he remained until the 18th of December. 
Mr. Culver claimed his immunity as a member of Congress, under 
the clause of the Constitution which provides that Senators and 
Representatives "shall in all cases, except treason, felony, and 
breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attend- 
ance at the sessions of their respective house.-, and in going 
and returning from the same." The judge decided that the 
ott'ense fell under the constitutional exception, and was to be re- 
garded as a "breach of the peace." From this remarkable de- 
cision an appeal was made to the House of Representatives 
itself, as "the highest court of the nation, and depository of it- 
supreme authority." The case was referred to the Judiciary 
Committee, who reported a resolution, unanimously adopted by 
the House, directing the Speaker to issue his warrant to the Ser- 
geant-at-Arms, commanding him to deliver forthwith Charles \ . 
Culver from the custody of the sheriif and jailor of Venango 
County, and make return to the House of the warrant, and 
manner in which he may have executed the same. The Ser- 
geant-at-Arms proceeded immediately to execute the order of the 
House, and in a short time the Speaker announced that Mr. 
Culver was unrestrained in his seat as a member ot the 1 hirty- 
ninth Congress. 

Among the numerous distinguished men who constituted 

the Thirty-ninth Congress, n ie towered so conspicuously 

above the rest as to be universally recognized and followed as 
the "leader." This title has been frequently applied to Thad- 
deus Stevens. He was in many respects the most prominent 



THE THIRTT-.XLYTE C 

Thirty-ninth Congress. His age, I 
iples <>t' the Republican party, his unco 
it, and In- r made him a cons - ml 

luential member <>f the House, but did uot caus 

i or implicitlv folio 1 - r. 

In - itive bodj . - so mai 

_ it and action, acknowledging do parliamentary 
i- remarkable that the \vh< _ i-lut i< <n si run 

lily, and that alter all th< ment in d 

at last so harmoniously wro "it. 

This is partly due to the patriotic spirit which j 
mi - members, inducing them to lav isi minor 

good of that common country for which 
their constituents had lately made such tremendous sacrifi . 
Th«- result ';- owing to the parliamentary ability and t 

of him w patiently ami faithfully - Speaker of 1 

by his position of opportunity of taking part in t 
-. which his genius and experieiv ed him to ill • 

lie nevertheless did much to direct the current of legislati 
which flowed smoothly or turbidl) him. The resolution 

Speaker, moved by a member of the minority, 
and passed unanimously by the House, was no uumeai >m- 

it, but was an honor fairly earned and justly paid. 
pr< siding over the ? —a much 

-mailer number whi - the body — was 

illv per i by Mr. Foster. His remark- to tl 

i ,_ l'om the chair as Pr< and closii _ 

elve yeai-s as a meml body, were n iu- 

. and i sive. 

ijamin i". W a Sena; m Ohio," having b en d 

sident pro tempore of be, took the " lad 

and assumed his seat as \ T ic -;'■■• -idem 

Uni . S - without ostentation or remark. 

twelv k noo March 1. 1867, the Thirty-ninth 

. handing over its great 
to antry, and it- un I busin 

immediately came into life. 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX 



OF TI1K 



THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 



[The numbers appended to the following sketches refer to preceding pages of 

the book.] 

JOHN l'». ALLEY was Lorn in Massachusetts, in 1817. He served an 
apprenticeship to a shoemaker, and afterward engaged extensively in the 
shoe and leather business in Linn. Ee became a member of the Massa- 
chusetts Senate in 1852. Since 1858 he has been a Representative in 
Congress 

WILLIAM B. ALLISON was born in Ohio, in 1829. He was admitted 
to the bar in 1851, and practiced in Ohio until 1857, when he removed to 
Dubuque, Iowa, He was a delegate to the Chicago Convention in 1860. 
In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Iowa to the Thirty-ninth 
( Jongress — 527. 

OAKES AMES was born in 1804. He was for two years a member of 

the Executive Council of Massachusetts. He has devoted most of his life to 

business of manufacturing, taking hut little public part in politics. He 

was a member of the Thirty-eighth Congress, and appeared for his second 

term at tb' opening of the Thirty-ninth Congress. — 31. 

SYDENHAM E. ANCONA was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 
November 20, 1*24. Having removed to Berks County, he was for several 

irs connected with the Reading Railroad Company. In I860 he was 
•ted a Representative to the Thirty-seventh Congress, ami was sul 
quently returned to the Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Coi 

IRGE W. ANDERSON was born in Tennessee, in L832. II" ad. 
the profession of the law. and in 1853 settled in Missouri. In 1858 he was 
elected to the Stat.- Legislature. He was. in 1862, elected a State Senator, 

and held this position until lie was chosen a Repi nl itive from Missouri 

to the Thirty-ninth Congress. 

' :57 (577) 



578 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS 

HENRY B. ANTHONY ia of Quaker ancestry. He was born in L815, 

and graduated at Brown University in 1833 In l v: > he becau litor of 

the "Providence Journal." He was twice Governor of Rhode Island. He 
took lii- Beat as United Stat.-- Senator in L859, and has been elected for a 
ad term, which ends in 1871. — 36, 37, I s - 

SAMUEL M. ARNELL, a lawyer by profession, was elected a Repn 
ative from Tennessee to the Thirty-ninth Congress, but was not admitted to 
hi- seat until near the close of the first session of the Thirty-ninth Congress. 

DELOS R. ASHLEY studied law in Michigan, whence he removed to 
California in L849. Here he held successively the offices of District Attor- 
ney, member of the State Legislature, and State Treasurer, until 1864, when 
he removed to Nevada, and was elected from that State a member of the 
Thirty-ninth Congress 

JAMES M. ASHLEY was born in Pennsylvania, November 14. 182-1 
His youth was spent on Ohio and Mississippi boats, and in a printing-office. 
He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1849, but went into the busi- 
ness of boat-building and was connected with the press. He subsequently 
■went into the wholesale drug business in Toledo. He was elected a Repre- 
sentative from Ohio to the Thirty-sixth Congress, and has been a member of 
seding Congress to the present time. — 503, 513, 515, 525, 566. 

JEHU BAKER was horn in Kentucky, November 4, 1822. He adopted 
the profession of law. and having settled in Illinois, he was elected a Repre- 
itive from that State to the Thirty-ninth Congress.— 340, 506. 

JOHN D. BALDWIN was born in Connecticut, in 1810, and graduated at 
Yale College. Having studied law and theology, and published a volume of 
poems, he became connected with the press, first in Hartford and then in 
Boston, where he was editor of the "Daily Commonwealth." He subse- 
quently 1 ame proprietor of the " Worcester Spy." In 1862 he was ele 

n member of the Thirty-eighth Congress, and reelected to the Thirty-ninth. 

NATHANIEL P. HANKS was born in Massachusetts, in 1816. lie was 
iir-t a newspaper editor, and subsequently studied law. He was elected a 
member of the Legislature of Massachusetts in l s 1v Prom 1853 to l s ">7 
he served as a Representative in Congress. During his second term in Con- 
gress he held the office of Speaker of the House with unsurpassed accepta- 
bility and success. In L857 he was deeted Governor of Massachusetts, and 
held the office for three successive term- At the breaking out of the war 
of L861 he entered the army as Major-general i>f Volunteers, and did much 
effective service for the country. At the close of the war he was elected a 
member of the Thirty-ninth Congress.— 25, 145, 524, 5 

ABRAHAM A BARKER was born in Lovell, Maine. March 30, L816. 
lie received a common-school education, and engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits. He was an earnest advocate of temperance and antislavery. In 1 V M 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 57!) 

he removed to Pennsylvania, and engaged in the lumber and mercantile 
business. He was a delegate to the Chicago Convention in I860, and was 
elected a Representative to the Thirty-ninth Congress From Pennsylvania 

PORTUS BAXTER was born in Bennington, Vermont. He has been 
engaged in mercantile and agricultural pursuits. He was elected . Repre- 
sentative from his native State to the Thirty-seventh Congress, and subse- 
quently served in the Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses. 

FERNANDO C. BEAMAN was horn in Vermont, June 28, 1814. He 
removed in boyhood to New York, and studied law in Rochester. in 1" I 
he settled in Michigan, where he served the people as Prosecuting Attorney, 
Probate Judge, and Presidential Elector. He has been a Representative in 
Congress from Michigan since I860. — 447. 

JOHN F. BENJAMIN was born in Cicero, New York, January 23, 1817. 
In 1848 he settled in Missouri in the practice of law. In 1851 and 1852 he 
served in the Legislature of that State. He entered the Missouri cavalry as a 
private in L861, and after some service became a Lieutenant-colonel, lie was 
elected a Representative from Missouri to the Thirty-ninth Congress. — - 

TENNIS (4. BERGEN was born in 1806. Before embarking in pol 
he was a surveyor and horticulturist. He was a member of the Charleston 
and Baltimore Conventions in 1860, and first took his seat as a member of 
Congress in 1865. 

JOHN BIDWELL was born in Chautauque County, New York, in 1819; 
emigrated to Pennsylvania and subsequently to Ohio, where he taught, sehi >i. 
He followed the same employment for two years in Missouri. In 1841 be 
emigrated to California, and was the first man to find gold on Feather River 
in 1848. He served in the Mexican war. In 1849 he was a member of the 
State Constitutional Convention, and was elected to the State Senate In 
1864 he was elected a. Representative from California to the Thirty-ninth 
Congress. — 31. 

JOHN A. BINGHAM was born in Pennsylvania, in 1815. He studied 
law in Ohio, and was admitted to the bar in 1849. In L854 lie was elected a 
Representative to Congress from Ohio, and was a member, by su< sessive 
reflections, until 1864, when he was appointed a Judge-advocate in the army. 
He was reelected to the Thirty-ninth Congress.— 25, 67, 237, 357, 434, 448, 
474, 475, 505, 520, 537. 

JAMES G. BLAINE was born in Pennsylvania in 1830; and having 

graduated at Washington College, he removed to Maine, and became editor 
of the "Portland Advertiser." After bavin- served four years in the Maine 
Legislature, he was elected to the Thirty-eighth Congressj and subsequently 
reelected to the Thirty-ninth.—:]:;:!, 437, 527, 528, 536. 

HENRY T. BLOW was born in Virginia, July 15, 1817. He removed 
to Missouri in 1830, and devoted himself to the lead and drug business. He 



580 THE THIRTY-NINTH COJVGEF& 

was lour years n member of the State Senate In 186] he was appointed 
Minister to Venezuela, but resigned the position before the expiration of a 
r. In 1862 he icted.a Representative to Congress from Missouri, 

and r< elected in 1 86 t 

GEORGE S BOl I'WELL was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1818. 
II ■ - in the itile busi clerk and proprietor for twenty years, 

and subsequently studied law. He served seven years in the State Legisla- 
ture, and was Governor of Massachusetts in L851 and 1852. He was elected 
:. Representative in Congress from Massachusetts in 1 v "~ and was ted 

to the Thirty-ninth Congress.— 91, 442, 475, 526, 528, 5 

BENJAMIN M BOYER was born in Montgomery ('.unity. Pennsylvania, 
in 1823 He graduated ar the Univerisity of Pennsylvania, and studied law. 
He was elected District Attorney for his native county in l x 4 s . In 1864 he 
was elected a member of the Thirty-ninth Congress. 54 I ] 

ALLEN A BRADFORD was born in Maine, in 1815. In 1841 he emi- 
grated tn Missouri, where he was admitted to the bar in 1843. 1 1 • - held the 
office of clerk of the Circuit Court for Atchinson County, and subsequently 
removed to [owa, where he was appointed Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit. 

Resigning this office in 1855, he went to Nebraska, and l ame a member 

of the Legislative Council. Having, in I860, settled in Colorado, he ■• 
appointed Judge of the Supreme Court for that Territory, and held this office 
until he was elected a delegate to the Thirty-ninth Congress from Colorado. 

AUGUSTUS BRANDAGEE was born in New London, Connecticut, in 
1828, and graduated ar Yale College in 1849. After having graduated at the 
Vali" Law School in I S ">1. he embarked in law and politics. From I S ">1 to 
1861 he was several times a member of the Connecticut Legislature He 
took his scar as a member of Congress in 1863. — ">I S . 

HENRY P. II BROMWELL was born in Baltimore, 1823. Having spent 

seven years of boyhood in Ohio, he went to Illinois in 1836, and came to the 

bar in 1853. He was subsequently an editor, Judge of a County Court, and 

Presidential Elector. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Illinois 

■ Thirty-ninth Congress. — 349. 

JAMES BROOKS was born in Portland, Main.', in I s !" When eleven 
years old he became a clei'k in a Btore. At sixteen he was a school-teacher, 
and at twenty-one [graduated at Waterville College. After several years 
spent in traveling and writing l<-tt<Ts for the press, he was, in lv;.">. elected 
to the Legislature ol Maine. In 1836 he established the "New York Daily 
Express," of which he has since been chief editor. In I s 17 he was elected 
to the General Assembly of New York In 1849, and again in 1851, he was 
elected a Representative in Congress. In 1863 he was returned to Congress. 
In December, 1865, he took his place as a member of the Thirtj ninth Con- 
gress but held it onlj until the 6th of April following, his seat having been 
ill\ contested by William E Dodge. — 17,20,25 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 581 

JOHN M. BROOMALL was born in Upper Chichester, Pennsylvania, in 
]SI(). Having received a common-school education, he devoted himself to 
legal studies and pursuits. In 1861 he was a Presidential Elector. In 1862 
he was elected to represent the seventh Pennsylvania district in Congress, 
and two years later was reelected to the Thirty-ninth Congress. — 243, 360, 
439, 504. 

B. GRATZ BROWN was hum in Kentucky, May 28, L826. Having grad- 
uated at Vali" College, and studied law, he settled at St. Louis, Missouri, 

where he edited the "Missouri Democrat" from L854 to 1859, and was a 
member of the State Legislature, lie raised a regiment at the breaking oul 
of the war, which he commanded during its term of service. He was among 
the foremost champions of freedom in Missouri, and was elected a Senator in 
Congress From that State for the term commencing in L863 and ending in 
L867. — 285, 477, 493. 

CHARLES R. BUCKALEW was horn in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, 
in L821. lie was admitted to practice law iu 1843, and was elected Prose- 
cuting Attorney for his native county iu 1845. In 1850 he was elected a 
Senator in the State Legislature, which office he held for a series of years. 
In 1854 he was a Commissioner to exchange the ratification of a treaty with 
Paraguay. He was a Presidential Elector in 1856, and Chairman of the State 
Democratic Committee in 1857. He was appointed by President Buchanan 
Minister Resident to Ecquador in 1858, and held the position until 1861. lie 
was, in 1863, elected United States Senator from Pennsylvania, for the term 
ending 1869.— 401, 494, 532. 

RALPH P. BUCKLAND was horn in Massachusetts, in 1812, and was re- 
moved the same year to Ohio. He was admitted to the bar in 1837. He 
served lour years in the Ohio Senate. In L861 he was appointed Colonel of 
the 72d Ohio Infantry, and after a years service was made a Brigadier-gen- 
eral. While absent in the field he was elected a Representative from Ohio 
to the Thirty-ninth Congress. 

HEZEKIAH S. IU'XDV was born in Marietta, Ohio, August 15, 1-17. 
From 1835 to 1S46 he was engaged in mercantile pursuits, and subsequently 
turned his attention to farming and the furnace business. He served several 
years in the Ohio Legislature, and was a Presidential Elector in 1860. He 
was, in 1864, elected a member of the Thirty-ninth Congress. 

WALTER A. BURLEIGH was a Delegate from Dakotah to the Thirty- 
ninth Congress. 

WILLIAM I!. CAMPBELL was born in Tennessee, and served as a cap- 
tain of volunteers in the Florida war. Having served in the State Legislature, 
he was a Representative in Congress from I ^ ;7 to 1843. He served a- a 

colonel in the Mexican war, and was Governor of Tei ssee from 1851 to 

1853. He was elected a Representative from Tennessee to the Thirty-ninth 
Congress, but with his colleagues was not admitted to a seat until near the 
(dose of the first session. 



THE THIRTY-NIJfTR CONGRE& 
ALEXANDER G. CATTELL. A Senator in Congress from New Jet 



- -669. 

ZACHARIAH CHANDLER • is born in New Bampshire, December 10, 
181 Be has been extensively engaged in mercantile and banking pursu 
]i i; . removed to Michigan, he was Mayor of Detroit in 1851, and was in 
1852 an unsuccessful candidate for Governor. Betook his seat in theThirty- 

- sue ding General Cass as Senator from Michigan. In 18 

he was reelected for the term ending 1869. — -~i. 397. 

HN W CBANLER was born in the city of New V-rk. in 1826. In 
1859 and I860, he was a member of the General Assembly of New ^ ork. In 
1863 In- first took hi- seat as a member of Congress, and entered upon hia 
second term December, 1865. — 64, 156, 337, 571. 

.1. FRANCISCO CBAVES was born in New Mexico, in 1833. lb' Btudied 
in.- . ■ in New York, and subsequently devoted several years t.> mercantile 
pursuits and cattle-raising. In L86J he entered tin' military Bervice a- Major 

the 1st New Mexico Infantry, and after seeing much active service, 
mustered out as Lieutenant-colonel. In 1865 he was elected a Del rom 

New Mexico to the Thirty-ninth Congress 

DANIEL CLARK was born in L809, and graduated at Dartmouth Col- 
lege in 1834. tie first appeared in public life as a member of the New 1 lamp- 
shirr Legislature in 1842. Be was elected United States Senator in 1857, 
and again in 1861. At the close >>i' the first session of the Thirty-ninth < 
gress, having been appointed U. S. District Judge for New Bampshire, he 
I his seat in the Senate.— 201, 38? IT:'. 

READER VV. CLARKE was born in Ohio, May 18, 1812. IK- learned the 
if a printer, ami became a lawyer in 1836. IK- served in the Ohio 
- • lire, and was clerk of tin 1 county court for a number of years. In 
1^>4 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-ninth Congress 

- >\KY CLARKE was born in Massachusetts October 16, 1821, and 

the profession of an editor. In 1858 he emigrated to Kansas, and 

member of the State Legislature in 1862. Entering the army, he 

mi i captain of volunteers, ami Assistant Provost-marshal General for 

Kan? s Nebraska, Colorado, ami Dakotah In 1864 he \> ted the 

Repri *entative Eroni Kansas to the Thirty-ninth Congress 

AM ' SA COHH was born in Illinois, in 1823, and emigrated to Wisconsin 
in l-i'J Be served a> a private in tin' Mexican war. and at til of 

■ he commenced the practice ■>!' law. lie served successively as 
:i ' Utorney, State Senator, and Adjutant-general of V\ Be 

v. iquently a member of the State Li ;islaturc, and v * ker. 

||, . done! "I' the 5th Wisconsin regiment in the war. and was elected 

tentative Gram Wig ghth and Tl ' on- 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 583 

ALEXANDER II. COFFROTH was born in Somerset, Pennsylvania, May 
18. 1828. lit- commenced the practice of law in 1851. He was a delegate to 
tin 1 Charleston Convention in I860, and was elected a Representative to the 
Thirty-eighth Congress, lie appeared as a member of the Thirty-ninth Con- 
gress, but his seal was successfully contested bv William 11. Koontz. 

SCHUYLER COLFAX was born in New York City, March 23, 1823. He 
became a printer, and settled in Indiana 1836. He was for many years editor 
and publisher of the "South Bend Register." In 1850 he was a member of 
the Indiana Constitutional Convention. He was a delegate and secretary of 
the Whig National Conventions of 1M X and 1 s -"»_. He was elected a Repre- 
sentative from Indiana to the Thirty-fourth Congress, and has been a member 

by reelection of each su< eding Congress, lit- was elected Sneaker tit' the 

Thirty-eighth Congress, and was reelected to the same office in the Thirty- 
ninth and Fortieth Congresses. — II. 20. 

ROSCOE CONKLING, son of Alfred Conkling, a member of the Seven- 
teenth Congress, was born at Albany, in 1828. Having entered the profession 
of law. he successively held the offices of District Attorney for Oneida County 
and Mayor of Utica. In 1859 he took his seat as a member of the Thirty- 
sixth Congress, and remained a Representative in Congress by successive 
reflections until the 4th of -March. 1867, when he entered the United States 
Senate as the successor of Ira Harris. — 328, 348, 481, 513. 

JOHN CONNESS was born in Ireland, in 1822, and came to America 
when thirteen years of age. He was an early emigrant to California, where 
he engaged in mercantile and mining pursuits. In 1852 he was elected to 
the State Legislature, and served in that capacity for a series of years. la 
1863 he was elected United States Senator from California for the term end- 
ing in 1869. — 340. 

BURTON C. COOK was born in New York, in 1^1 ( .». He became a law- 
yer and settled in Illinois, where he served eight years in the State Senate. 
In 1804 he was elected a Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-ninth 
i longress. — 223, 350. 

EDWARD COOPER is a lawyr by profession, and was. ' m 1865, eleete 1 
a Representative from Tennessee to the Thirty-ninth Congress, but was not 
admitted until near the close of the first session. 

EDGAR COWAN was born in Westmoreland County. Pennsylvania, ia 
1815. lie graduated at Franklin College, Ohio, in 1839. Having been at 

different times clerk, boat-builder, scl l-master, and student of medicine, he 

studied law, and practiced the profession until 1861, when he was elected 

I uited States Senator from Pennsylvania for the ter ading l s <'7. — 96, 100, 

L33, 135, 195, 216, 273, 429, 487, 489, 496. 

AAKON U. CRAGIN was born in Weston, Vermont, in 1821. Having 
studied law. he removed, in 1847. to New Hampshire and practiced his }>rt> 



58 Tin: Tiiiirry-M.YTii congress. 

in, From 1852 to 1855 he was a member of the New Hampshire L 
lature. Be was a Representative from New Hampshire in the Thirty-fifth 

and Thirty-sixth Congr< In 18 entered the Senate of the United 

Stat 

JOHN A .1. CRESWELL was born in Maryland, in 1828, graduated at 
Dickinson College in 1848, and was admitted to the bar in l s -">" He was 
successively a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, Assistant Adju- 
tant-general for the State, and a Representative in the Thirty-eighth Con< 
In 1865 he \ ii a United - Senator for the unexpired term of T. 

II Hicks, deceased. — I 

SHELBY M. CULLOMwas born in Kentucky, in 1829, and becam 
lawyer by profession. Having removed to Illinois, he became a member and 
Speaker of the .--rat'' Legislature. He entered Congress in 1865 as a Repre- 
sentative from Illinois. — 516. 

CHARLES V. CULVER was born in Logan, Ohio, in 1830. He set 
in Pennsylvania, and engaged extensively in business pursuits, and especially 
in banking. He was elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the 
Thirty-ninth Congress. — 575. 

WILLIAM A DARLING was born in Newark, New Jersey, in l s 17 
When quite young he went to New York City, and devoted himself to the 
wholesale mercantile business, first as clerk, ami afterward proprietor. In 
1863 he was president of the Union and Republican organization of New 
York City. In 1864 he was elected a member of tin- Thirty-ninth Con- 
gress.- -81. 

GARRET DAVIS was born at Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, in 1801. He was 
admitted to the bar in 1823. He was elected to the State Legislature in 
from 1839 to l x 17 he was a Representative in Congress from Ken 
tucky. In L861 he became United States Senator, and in 1867 he entered 
upon his second term in the Senate.— 24, 136, 171, 199, 208, 243, 287, 287, 
430, 460, 184, 193, 533, 572. 

THOMAS T. DAVIS was born at Middlebury, Vermont, in 1810, and 
graduated at Hamilton College in 1831. Having settled in Syracuse, he 
studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1833. Railroads, manufactures, 

and mining ha\ :cupied much of his attention. In 1862 he was el scted a 

member of the Thirty-eighth Congress, and entered upon his Becond term of 
Bervice at the opening <>r the Thirty-ninth Congress.— 6 

HENRY L. DAWES was born in L816, and graduated at Vale College in 

tudied law, taught Bchool, and edited a paper. He w.i- several 

times from l N l N to 1853 member of the Massachusetts Legislature He held 

the office of District Attorney from 1853 until his election as a member of the 

Thirty-fifth Congress, He has I o a member of everj subsequent 

JO, 178. 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 5S5 

,!()I1N L. DAWSON was born at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, February 7, 
1813. Eaving been educated at Washington College, be adopted the ]> 
sion of law. In 1845 he held the position of United States District Attorney 
for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Thirty- 
second Congress and also of the Thirty-third. After a long absence from 
Congress, he was reelected in 1862 and again in 1864. — 144. 505. 

JOSEPH II. DEFREES was born in Tennessee, in 1812. His early y 
of business life were occupied in printing. He removed to Indiana, and be- 
came a merchant. Having held the office of Sheriff four years, he was 
in 1849 elected to the Lower House of the Indiana Legislature, and 
quently to the Senate. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Indiana 
to the Thirty-ninth < !ongress. 

COLUMBUS DELANO was born in Vermont, in 1809, and removed to 
Ohio in 1817. He embarked in the profession of the law, but later in life \v.\< 
been employed in agriculture and banking. In 1844 he was elected a ineni- 
b . of the Twenty-ninth Congress, and twenty years subsequently was el> 
a Representative to the Thirty-ninth Congress. — 236, 539. 

HENRY C. DEMING was born in Connecticut. He graduated at Yale 
College in 1836, and at the Harvard Law School in 1838. lie had been a 
member of the Lower House and Senate of Connecticut, and for six 
Mayor of Hartford, when in 1861 be went into the war as Colonel of the 12th 
Connecticut regiment. He participated in the capture of New Orleans, and 
was Mayor of that city until 1863, when he returned to his native State, and 
was soon after elected a Representative in the Thirty-eighth Congress, and 
reelected in 1865. 

CHARLES DENISON was born in Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, Janu- 
ary 23, 1818. He graduated at Dickinson College in 1829, and entered the 
profession of law. In 1862 he was elected a. Representative from Pennsyl- 
vania to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and was reelected in 1864. 

ARTHUR A. DENNY was born in Indiana, in 1 s^l>, and removed in boy- 
hood to Illinois. In 1851 he removed to Washington Territory, and was a 
member of the Territorial Legislature from is:,;; to 1861. lie held for four 
years the office of Register of the Land Office at Olympia, and was subse- 
quently elected a Delegate from Washington Territory to the Thirty-ninth 
< 'ongress. 

JAMES DIXON was born 1814, and graduated at William- College in 
1834; practiced law, and was a member of the General Assembly of Connec- 
ticut a number of years. From 1845 to 1849 he was a I.' ntative in 
Congress, in 18o7 he was elected Senator, and subsequently re'e ected for a 
second term, which ends in 1869. — 4'2'-',, 195. 

NATHAN 1'" DIXON, BOD of a Senator of the same name who died at 
Washington in 1842, was bom in 1812, and graduated at Brown University 



586 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

in I After attending the Law Schools at New Haven and Cambridge, h<- 

was admitted to the bar in 1837 From 1840 to 1849 he was a member of 
t!i<- Genera] Assembly of Rhode Island, and after having served in the Thirty- 
first Congress, was again elected v< the Legislature. In 1863 he was elected 
a Repn tive from Rhode Island to the Thirty-eighth I and en- 

tered upon his Becond Congressional term in 1865. 

WILLIAM E. DODGE was born at Hartford Connecticut, in 1819. Early 
in life he went to New York City, where he engaged actively in business 
ll<' was for many years at the head of one of the most extensive manufac- 
turing and importing establishments in the country. He was for many years 
President of the National Temperance Society, and has long l a a promi- 
nent promoter of benevolent enterprises in New York City. Having proved 
his right to the seat held by James Brooks, he was admitted a member of the 
Thirty-ninth Congress in the Bpring of 1866. — 511, 568 

IGNATIUS DONNELLY was born in Philadelphia, in 1831. He Btudied 
law, and was admitted to the bar in \x'i'-',. Having emigrated to Minn. -seta 
in 1857, he was. two years after, elected Lieutenant-governor. In 1862 he 
was elected a Representative to Congress from Minnesota, and was reelected 
in 1864.— 145, 333, 507, 538, 553. 

JAMES R. DOOLITTLE was born al Hampton, New Fork, in 1815. He 
graduated at Geneva College in 1834, and adopted the profession of law. In 
1851 he removed to Wisconsin, and was chosen judge of the first judicial 
circuit of that Star.' in 1853. II • was elected a United - - water from 

Wisconsin in 1857, and was reelected in 1863 for the term ending in l v iV.i — 
285 1 18, 131, 456, 458, 460, 195, 501, 531, 5 I !, 541. 

Ji»! IX !•'. DRIGG9 was born at Kinderhook, N \ rk, in 1813. Having 
learned a mechanical business connected with building, in New York City, 
he was a master-mechanic until 1856, when he settled in East Saginaw, Mich- 

i He was two years a member of the Michigan Legislature, and in 1- 
v.a- ! a Representative from Michigan in < -. and reelected in 

1*6-1 

EBENEZER DUMONT was born at Vevay, Indiana, in 1814. 1!.' became 
r by profession, and was a member of the State Legislature in l v 
H ■ is n i nty treasurer from 1839 to 1845 He served in the Mexi- 

can war as n lieutenant-colonel, and was subsequently a member of the State 
Presidential Elector, and president of tin SI I Bank. On the 
tli" civil war he was appointed Colonel .'I* the 7th Indiana 
and subsequently promote I to the rank of Brigadier-general. 
!! iving been elected t.. Congress in 1802, he left t 1 1 « - field and t....k his >.Mt 
• tive from Indiana to the Thirty ■ ■ij>t | ! Congress He svas re- 
ed t.i the Thirty-ninth < long 

EPITR MM R, ECKLEY was born in Ohio, in 1812, and was admitted to 
He served - ■■ ira in tli - He had com- 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 587 

mand, as Colonel, of the 26th and L8th Ohio regiments in the civil war. He 
resigned his position in the army in 1863 to enter upon his duties as Repre- 
sentative from <>hii> to the Thirty-eighth Congress He was returned to the 
succeeding Congress in 1865. — 147. 

GEORGE F. EDMUNDS was born in Vermont, February 1, 1828, ami 
was admitted to the bar in 1849. He served several years as member of the 
Vermont Legislature, of which he was Speaker, and subsequently was a mem- 
ber of the State Senate and presiding officer of that body. He was appointed 
to the vacancy in the United States Senate occasioned by the death of Solo- 
mon Foot, ami entered upon the duties of this position in April, 1866. — 559, 
560. 

BENJAMIN EGGLESTON was horn at Corinth, New York, in 1816, and 
removed to Ohio in 1831. He gave his attention to commercial pursuits, and 
has been identified with many important public enterprises. He was for 
some years a member of the State Legislature, and was a Presidential Elec- 
tor in I860. He was, in 1864, elected a Representative from Ohio to the 
Thirty-ninth < longress. 

CHARLES A. ELDR1DGE was born at Bridgeport, Vermont, in 1821. 
He removed to New- York, where he was admitted to the bar in 1846. He 
I in Fond du bar. Wisconsin, in 1848. Having served two terms in 
the State Sen it •. he was. in 1862, elected a Representative from Wisconsin to 
the Thirty-eighth Congress, and two years after was reelected. — 242 355, 419, 
441. 507, 539, 546. 

THOMAS I). ELIOT was born in Boston in 1808. Having graduated 
at Columbia College, Washington, in 1825, he entered the professsion of the 
law. He served in the Legislature of Massachusetts, and in 1855 was elected 
a Representative in Congress to lill an unexpired term. Alter a brief inter- 
val, he was elected a member of the Thirty-sixth and each succeeding Con- 
gress.— 95, 138, 295, 296, 306, 347, 443. 

JOHN F. FARNSWORTH was bom in Lower Canada. March 27th. 1820. 
He emigrated to Illinois and pursued the profession of law. He was a Rep- 
resentative from Illinois to the Thirty-tilth and Thirty-sixth Congr — es. In 
1861 he entered the military service as colonel of volunteers. In 1862 and 
in 1864 he was reelected to Congress.- -61, 339, 448, 519, 537, 

JOHN II. FARQUHAR was horn in Maryland, in 1818, and removed to 
aa in 1833. He was first a civil engineer, and then a lawyer. He 
[y as Secretary of the Indiana Senate. Clerk of the Indiana 
House ol Re itives, and Presidential Elector in I860. In l^til he was 

commissi* • Captain in the L9th U. S. [nfantry, and served in that ca- 

pacity until 1864, when hi' was elected a Representative from Indiana to the 
Thirty-ninth < longress 

THOMAS W, FERRY was born at Mackinac, Michigan, in 1-27. His 



THE 111 i I: /)•-. \ 7. \ 77/ CONGRESS. 

business is that of a lumberman and banker. In i N ">" he was elected to 
the State Legislature, and in 1856 to the Michigan Senate. In 1864 he was 
elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress from Michig 

WILLIAM PITT FESSENDEN was born in New Hampshire, October 
16, 1806. He graduated al Bowdoin College in 1823, and need the 

practice of law in Portland in l v i!7 He was several times a member of the 
State Legislature, and from 1841 to l s L; he was a Representative in I 
gress. In 1853 he was elected a United Stat.--; Senator from Main.-, and was 

I in 1859. In July, 1864, he was apj 
dent Lin ; iretary of the Treasury, but returned to th - ■•• after a 

few months' absence, having been reelected for the term ending in 1871. — 
27, 42, 271, 224, 373, 377 194, 412. 419, 121, 432, 540. 

WILLIAM E. FINCK was born in Ohio in 1822. He was admitted to 
the bar at the age of twenty-one. He was elected to the State Senate in 
1851, and was a member of the Convention of \<>'2. which nominated Gen 
era] S r the Presidency. In 1862 he was elected a Representative 

from ohin to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and was reelected in 1864. — 137, 
519. 

GEORGE G. FOGG was elected a Senator from New Hampshh 
the unexpired term of Daniel Clark, resigned. 

SOLOMON FOOT was born in 1802, and graduated at Middlebury Col- 
in 1826. Having devoted some years to teaching, he studied law, and 
admitted to the bar in 1831, He was for yeai's successively a member 
of the Legislature ami State Attorney. From 1843 to 1847 he was a I.' 
sentative in Congress. He was honored by his nal - ite by thr< lec- 
tions to the Senate of th.' United States, his Senatorial career beginning 
in 1851, and ending with his death. March 28th, 1866. — 253, 51 

LA FAYETTE S. FOSTEB is a descendant of Mile. Standish. He was 
Lorn in 1806, ami graduated it Brown University in 1828. He comme 
the practice of law in 1831, and was a member of the General Assembly of 
Connecticut at intervals until l^'.l He took his seat in the United States 
Senate in 1855, and was reelected fur the term ending 1867. Hi' was cl 
President pro tern, of the Senate at th.' extra session of 1865, ami by the ele- 
vation '•!' Andrew Johnson to the Presidency became Acting \ ice I' sident 
of the I nited States.— 23, 137, 197 

JOSEPH S FOWLER was in 181 1 a United Stal s Senator from 

Tennessee for the term ending in l s 7L but was not admitted to his seat un- 
til near the clo^e of the In- n of the Thirty-ninth ( ■ 178, 

FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN, a Senator in Congress from New 
Jersey. -492, 497. 

JAMES A. GARFIELD was born in Ohio, November 19, 1831, and grad- 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 589 

uated at Williams College, Massachusetts, and was for some years principal 
of a flourishing seminary at Hiram. Ohio. In 1859 and I860 he was a mem- 
ber of the Ohio Senate. At the breaking out of the rebellion, he entered 
the army as Colonel of the 42d Ohio Volunteers, and was promoted suc- 
cessively to the rank of Brigadier-general and to that of Major-general of 
Volunteers. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the 
Thirty-eighth Congress, and reelected to the Thirty-ninth Congress. — 144, 
, ;S 540 524, 538, 553. 

ADAM J. GLOSSBRENNER was born at Hagerstown, Maryland, in L810. 
He was apprenticed at an early age to the printing business. When seven- 
teen years of age he journeyed westward, and became foreman in the office 
of the "Ohio Monitor.'' and afterward of the " Western Telegraph." In 1829 
he returned to Pennsylvania and settled in York, and there puhlished the 
•• York Gazette." In 1849 he was elected Sergeant-at-arms of the House of 
Representatives for the Thirty-first Congress, and held the same office through 
the four following Congressional terms. In 1861 he was private secretary 
to President Buchanan. In 1864 he was elected a member of the Thirty- 
ninth Congress. 

CHARLES GOODYEAR was born in Schoharie County, New York, in 
1805, and graduated at Union College in 1824. He studied law, and prac- 
ticed his profession until 1839, when he was elected to the New York Leg- 
islature. He entered Congress for the first time in 1845 and served one 
term. In 1852 he discontinued the practice of law and engaged in the 
business of banking. In l s, '»d he was elected a member of the Thirty- 
ninth Congress. 

HENRY GRIDER was horn in Kentucky, July 16, 1796. He was a pri- 
vate in the last war with England. 11" subsequently divided his attention 
between agriculture and law. In 1827 and 1831 he was elected to the Legis- 
lature of Kentucky, and in 1833 to the State Senate. As early as 1843 he 
was elected a Representative to Congress, and held the position until 1847. 
He was reelected to the Thirty-eeventh, Thirty-eighth, and Thirty-ninth Con- 
gresses. He died before the expiration of the term for which he was 
elected. — 117. 

JAMES W. GRIMES was horn in New Hampshire, October 16, 1816, 
and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1836. Having emigrated to Iowa, he 
was, in L838, elected to the first Territorial Legislature. From 1854 to 1858 
he was Governor of Iowa. In 1859 he was elected a United State- Senator 
from Iowa, and in 1865 was reelected for the term ending in 1871. 

JOSIAH B. GRIKNELL was born in Vermont, in 1821. He received a 
collegiate and theological education. He went to Iowa in L855, and turned 

his attention to farming. Having l a four years a member of the State 

Senate, he was elected a Representative from Iowa to the Thirty-eighth and 
Thirty-ninth Congresses.— 70, 153, 507, 572. 



590 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

JnllN .\ GRISWOLD was born in Rensselaer County, N> w York, in 
] -~2-. He li.i- been engaged in the iron trade and in the ss of bank- 

ing. He was once Mayor of the city of Troy. In 1802 he was elected a 
Representative to the Thirty eighth Congress, and was reeled : — 

JAMES GUTHRIE was born in Kentucky, in 1795. Having spent s 
years in trading with New Orleans as the owner of flat-boate ettled in 

Louisville, as a lawyei\ at the age of twenty-five. He was at one time shot 
l>y a political opponent, and was in consequ< ace laid ap for three yei 
He served nine years in the State Legislature and six years in the Kentucky 
Senate. He subsequently to,.k an active part in banking lm- . - 
president of a railroad. In 1853 he became Secretary of the Treasury urn 
President Pierce. In 1865 he was elected United State- S- ■■ .■ the term 

ending in 1871. — 46, 134, 160, 210. 

ROBERT S. HALE was born in Chelsea, Vermont, in 1822, and gradu- 
ated at the University of Vermont in 1842. He settled for the practice of law 
at Blizabethtown, New Fork. He subsequently held the positions of Judge 
of Essex County, Regent of the University of New York, and Presidential 
Elector. He made liis tirst appearance in the National Legislature as a 
Representative in the Thirty-ninth Congress —82, 372. 

AARON HARDING was hum in Kentucky, and was admitted to the bar 
in 1833. In 1840 he was elected to the State Legislature H< has been a 
Representative in Congress from Kentucky since 1861. — 361, 4i - 

ABNER ('. HARDING was born in Connecticut in 1807. He pracl 
law in the State of New York, and subsequently in Illinois. He was for 
many years engaged extensively in farming and railroad management. In 
1848 he was a member of the Illinois Constitutional Convention, and sul 
quently of the Legislature. In 1862 he enlisted as a private in the K3d Illi- 
nois Infantry, and became it- Colonel. He was promoted to the rank of 
Brigadier-general. In 1864 he was el, Tie, 1 a Representative from Illinois 
the Thirty ninth Congress. — 522. 



•-■ 



BENJAMIN G. HARRIS was born in Maryland, in 1806. He was for a 
time a student of Yale College, and afterward studied for some time at the 
Cambridge Law School. He returned to hi- native State, and ed in 

the practice of law and agriculture. He served for several years in the 
Maryland House of Delegates. In 1863 and again in 1865 he ■ ted a 

Representative to Congress. In May, 1865, he was arrested and tried by 
court-martial for violating the Fifty-sixth Arti.de of War. and was declared 
guilty, hut the President ordered the sentence of the court to he remitted in 

full.' 

Ih'A HARRIS was born in L802. As a boy hi' labored on a farm in sum- 
mer and attended school iu winter. Having graduated at Union College in 



BIOGRAPHICAL IX MIX. 591 

1824, he became a member of the bar at AH. any, and for many years devote 1 
his attention exclusively to his profession. In 1844 and L845 he was a mem- 
ber of the New York House of Representatives. In L846 he was elected a 
member of the State Senate. For twelve war- subsequently he held the 
position of Judge of the Supreme Court. In 1861 he was elected to the 
United States Senate for the term ending in 1 >67. — L5. 28. 

ROSWELL HART was born at Rochester, in 1824. He graduated at 
Vale College in 1843, and was admitted to the bar in 1847, but aband 
that profession for mercantile pursuits. He was tir<t elected to Congress in 
L864. 

ISAAC R. HAWKINS was elected a Representative to the Thirty-ninth 
Congress from Tennessee, and was admitted to his seat near the closi of the 
first session. 

RUTHERFORD B. HAVES was burn in Ohio, in 1822. lie graduated at 
Kenyon College, and subsequently at the Cambridge Law School. He was 
City Solicitor for Cincinnati from 1858 to 1861. He went into the army at 
the opening of the war as Major of the 23d Ohio Volunteers, and reached 
the rank of Brigadier-general. In 186-1 he was elected a Representative from 
Ohio to the Thirty-ninth Congress. 

JAMES II. D. HENDERSON was born in Kentucky, in 1810, and was 

successively a printer, preacher, farmer, and lawyer. In 1864 he was elected 
a Representative from Oregon to the Thirty-ninth Congress. 

JOHN B. HENDERSON was born in Virginia, in 1826, and in 1836 was 

removed to Missouri. He taught school and studied law. lie was member 
of the State Legislature, Presidential Elector, and Delegate to the Char! si i 
Convention in 1860. He was appointed to fill the vacancj occasioned by the 
expulsion of Trusten Polk from the United States Senate, and in 1863 was 
elected for the lull term ending in L869. — 161, •' ; 7 7 . 386, 530, 531, 533, 559. 

THOMAS A. HENDRICKS was born in Ohio. September 7. 1819, and was 
educated at South Hanover College. Having studied law. he settled in Indi- 
ana, and practiced his profession. In L848 lie was elected t<> the State 
Legislature, ami in 1 ^">0 lie was a member of the Indiana Constitutional 
Convention. From 1851 to 1855 he was a Representative in Congress from 
Indiana. He was appointed by President Pierce Commissioner of tie' lien- 
eral Land-office, and held the office until 1859, when In- resigned, lie was 
elected a Senator in Congress for the term ending in 1869. — 44, ins. 21 I. 306, 
395, 432, loo. 531, 532, 548. 

WILLIAM IIICP.V was horn in New York, in 1813. Having graduated 
at the University of Vermont, he studied law and practiced tor a time- in his 
native State, lu 1850 he emigrated to California, and became a member of 
the State Senate in 1862. In 1863 he was elected a Representative to Con- 
gress from California, and was reelected in 1865.- 



599 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGEES 

PHENEAS W. HITCHCOCK was born in New York, in L831. Having 
graduated at Williams College, M iss in 1855, he studied law, and 

emigrated to Nebraska Territory. In 1861 be was appointed by President 
Lincoln Marshal of the Territory, and held this office until hi- election as a 
Delegate from Nebraska to the Thirty-ninth Congress 

RALPH HILL was born in Ohio, October 12, 1827. Having graduated at 

the New York National Law Sri 1 in 1851, he removed to Indiana. In 

1864 he was elected a Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-ninth I 

• 

ELIJAH IIISK. a Representative from Kentucky to tin- Thirty-ninth I 
gress. —51 I. 521. 

.!:>II\" HOGAN was born in Ireland, in 1805, and came with his father to 
Baltimore, Maryland, in 1817. He was apprenticed to a shoemaker, and ob- 
tained the rudiments of education in the Asbury Sunday-school. In 1826 
Ik- removed to Illinois, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1836 
he was a member of the State Legislature, in 1838 Commissioner <d" the 
Board of Public Works, and in l s 41 Register of the Land-office by appoint- 
ment of President Harrison. lie removed to St. Louis, and engaged in mer- 
cantile pursuits and banking. In 1857 he was appointed by President 
Buchanan Postmaster at St. Louis. In 1864 he was elected a Representa- 
tive i" ( 'ongress from -Missouri. 

E. D. HOLBROOK was horn in Elyria, Ohio, in 1836. Having adopted 
the profession of law, he emigrated to Idaho, and was elected a Delegate from 
thai \ to the Thirty-ninth ( '■ u 

SIDNEY T. HOLMES was horn in I! msselaer County, New York, in 1815. 

Having spent several years as civil engineer, 1 ommenced the practice of 

law in I ~- 1 1 . After holding a variety of local offices, he was elected a mem- 

fhim-ninth Congress 



- 



SAMI EL HOOPER was born in 1808 Having received a commercial 
education, in 1832 he established himself as a merchant in Boston, engaging 

iv in th<' China trade. He served several term- in the House of Repre- 
i,tivc9 and Senate of Massachusetts In 1861 he wax elected a Repre- 
sents! 3S, and has been a member since that tine' by successive 

in. 

GILES W. HOTCHKISS is a member <>t" the bar at Binghamton, New 
York, lie was elected in 1862 to represent the Twenty I jsional 

District of New York in the Thirty-eighth Congress, and was reelected in 

.1 \< .•'.; M HOWARD was horn in Vermont, in 1805, and graduated at 
Williams College in 1830. Having taught in an academy and studied law 
in Massachusetts, he removed I i Michigan in 1832, In 1838 he was a mem- 



BIOGRAPHICAL IjYDEX. 593 

ber of the State Legislature, and in 1841 was elected a Representative to 
Congress from Michigan. He subsequently served for six years as Attorney- 
eeneral of the State In 1862 he was elected to a vacancy in the Qnited 
is Senate, and in 1865 he was elected for the term ending in L871. — 36, 
196, 398, 453, 455, 530. 

TIMOTHY O. HOWE was born in Maine, in 1816. Tie was admitted to 
the bar in 1839, and was elected to the Legislature of Maine in 1845. Hav- 
ing removed to Green Bay, Wisconsin, he was, in 1850, elected a Circuit 
Judge. In 1861 he was elected a United States Senator for the term ending 
in 1867.— 421, 459. 

ASAHEL W. HUBBARD was born in Connecticut, in 1819, and having 
removed to Indiana, engaged in school-teaching, and studied law. In IS47 
he became a member of the Indiana Legislature and served three years. He 
removed to Iowa in 1857, and was chosen Judge of the Fourth Judicial Dis- 
trict. In 1862 he was elected a Representative in Congress from Iowa, and 
was reelected in 1864. 

CHESTER D. HUBBARD was horn in Connecticut, in 1814, and was re- 
moved to Wheeling, Virginia, in 1819. Tie graduated at the Wesleyan Uni- 
versity in 1840, and engaged in banking. In 1852 he was a member of the 
Virginia Legislature. He served one term in the Senate of West Virginia 

its organization as a State. He was elected a Representative from 
West Virginia to the Thirty-ninth Congress. 

DEMAS HUBBARD was horn in Herkimer County, New York, in 1806. 
He has been occupied in farming and in the practice of law. He was for 
many years a member and chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Che- 
nango County, and from 1838 to 1840 was a member of the New York 
islature. In 1864 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-ninth 
Congress. 

JOHN II. HUBBARD was horn in Connecticut in 1805, and was admit- 
ted to the bar in 1826, and devoted himself to his profession. Having served 
two terms in the State Senate, he was, in 1863, elected a Representative to 
Congress from Connecticut, and was reelected in lSiif). — 148. 

EDWIN N. HUBBELL was born in Coxsacksie, New York, in 1815. He 
levoted his attention to manufacturing and farming. In 1864 he was 
cted a Representative in the Thirty-ninth Congn 

JAMES R. HUBBELL was born in Ohio in 1824, and became a lawyer 
Ity profession. He served four term- in the Stat" Legislature, and was twice 
sleeted Speaker of the House. He was. in 1864, elected a Representative to 
Thirty-ninth Congress 

CALVIN T. HULBURD was born at Stock!, .dm. New York, in 1809. 
Having graduated at Middlebury College, Vermont, and read law at Yale 
"38 



594 T i {J " Tiiii;T)--.Yi.vrn CONGRESS 

p 

he engaged in agriculture. He was times a member of the 

General Assembly of New York. In 1862 he was I to represent the 

nth District of N ■• ^ - >rk in the Thirty-eighth I and was 

reelected in 1864. 

JAMES HUMPHREY was born in Coi ticut in 1811, and in 1831 

graduated :tt Amherst College, of which his father, Rev. Heman Humphrey, 
President. After having boon principal of an academy in Connecticut, 
I law, and commenced the praci ■ his profession in Louisville, 
Kentucky, where he remained only one year. In 1838 he removed to th<- 
city of New York for the practice of law. In 1859 he was elected a meui- 
if Congress, and served one term. After remaining in private life ;t few 
was elected a member of the Thirty-ninth Congress, but died be- 
fore its close, on the 16th of June, 1866. 

JAMES M HUMPHREY was lorn in Erie County, New York, in IS 
and, becoming a lawyer, he settled in the city of Buffalo. He was three 
years District Attorney tV>r Erie County, and two years a member of the 
State Senate. He was President of the Democratic State Convention in 
In the same year he went as ' to the Thirty-ninth 

< longress 



- 



JOHN W. HUNTER, a banker of Brooklyn, was elected a R tative 

from New York to the Thirty-ninth Congress to fill the vacancy 
by the death of James Humphrey. He took his seat in Congress D 
I,..,, j. L866 —515. 

EBON C. ENGERSOLL was born in New York, in 1831, and . 
Illinois in 1843. He was admitted to the bar in 1854, and became a mem- 
ber of the Illinois Legislature in 1856. He was elected a Representative to 
the Thirty-eighth Congress for the unexpired term of Owen Lovej I was 

in 1864 reelected to the succeeding Congress. — 521. 

THOMAS A JENCKES was born at Providence, Rhode Island, in 1811. 
He graduated at Brown University in 1838 He practiced law until his 
election to Congress in 1863 lb' has served a- Chairman of the Conn 
on Patents, ami the Committee <<n the Bankrupt Law. — 320, 332, 340, 

I'HIL 11' JOHNSON was burn in Warren County, New Jersey, January 
17, 1818, and removed to Pennsylvania in 1839. lb' was educated at La- 
fayette College, and bavin.' studied law, be w:!S admitted t<> the bar in 1 S 4 S . 
lb- was two year.- a member of the State Legislature and was Chairman of 
the Democratic State Convention in 1857 In I860 he was elected a Repre- 
sentative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-seventh Congress, and was subse- 
quently twice reelected, lie died before tin- expiration of tie' term tor which 
1..' was elected as a member of the Thirty ninth Congress. — 90. 

REVERDY JOHNSON was born at Annapob's, Maryland, in 1796 Hi- 
life hay beeu devoted to the profession of law. In 1^L''> he was appointed 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 

! bief Commissioner of Insolvent Debtors. In 1821 he was elected a 3l • 
Senator, in 1845 he became a United States Senator, but resigned in 1849 
to accept the office of Attorney-general of the CJniti 3 i him by 

President Taylor. In 1862 he was reelected to the United States - a 
the term ending in L869. — 36, 96, 163, 198, 203, 264, 271, 384, 427, 461, 
528, 532, 533, 547. 

MORGAN JONES was born in 1832, and pursued the bus 

plumber in New York City. He served as city councilman for several 
years, and was subsequently elected a member of the Board of A '■ 
of which he was made president. In 1864 he was elected a me . : the 
Thirty-ninth Congress. 

GEORGE W. JULIAN was born in Indiana, May 5, 1817. After spend- 
ing three years as a school-teacher, he studied law. and commi i the 
practice of the profession in 1841. In 1845 he was a member 61 the State 
Legislature; in 1848, a Delegate to the Buffalo Convention: and in 184 
Representative in Congress from Indiana. In 1852 he was a candidate for 
Vice-President of the United States on the ticket with .John P. Hal 
President. In 1860 he was reelected a Representative to Congress, and has 
remained a member by successive reelections to the present time. — 31, 74, 
364, 516, 553. 

JOHN A. KASSON was born in Vermont, in 1822. and having graduated 
at the University of Vermont, he studied law in Massachusetts, arid prac- 
ticed the profession for a time in St. Louis. Missouri. In 1857 he removed 
to Iowa, and was appointed a Commissioner to report upon the condition of 
the Executive Departments of Iowa, In 1861 he was appointed Assi 
Postmaster-general, but resigned the position in the following yt-.'.v. when he 
was elected a Representative to Congress from Iowa. He was reelected in 
1864 to the Thirty-ninth Congress.— 72, 363, 525. 

WILLIAM D. KELLEY was born in Philadelphia, in 1814. He com 
menced life as a reader in a printing-office. He subsequently spent seven 
years as an apprentice in a jewelry establishment. He then went to Bos 
ton, and there, for four years, followed his trade. Returning to Philadelphia, 
he studied law. and came to the bar in 1*41 For several years he was Judge 
of the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia. He has been a Represi 
tive in three successive Congresses — the Thirty-seventh, Thirty-eighth, and 
Thirty-ninth.— 51, 58, 349, 438, 526. 

JOHN R. KELSO was born in Ohio, in L831. He was educated at PI. 

ant Ridge College, Missouri, and subsequently became principal of an acad- 
emy. He served in the civil war as a captain, and was. in 1 8C>4, elected a 
Representative to Congress from Missouri. 

MICHAEL C KERR was born in Pennsylvania. March 15. 1827. He 
taught school and studied law, graduating to a degree in that profession in 
the University of Louisville. Having settled at New Albany, Indiana, he 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRE& 

■ 

[ re- 
the Supreme Court, and published five relumes 11 I 

■ i 58 from [ndiana in 1864. — 147 

JOHN I! KETCHAM was bora in Duchess County, New Fork, in : 
ived :m academical education, he d 
cultural | lit 1856 and \<<~ h< - i member < 

Repn - -. and of the Si - in 1860 and 1861 He 

the military service in 18 • Colonel of the L50th New Y 
■ and became a Brigadi ral by brevet. II 

■in New York to the Thirty-ninth I i bis 

position in the army in .March. 1865. 

- MUEL .1. KIRKWOOD was born in Maryland, Dec 
Having removed to Ohio, lit- studied law, and was admitted t" the bar in 
He wag four years a Prosecuting Attorney, and was a member of the Ohio 
Constitutional Convention in 1850. Having removed to Iowa, hew 
to the Starr Senate in 1856. He was Governor of Ohio from I? 

ami. in January. 1866, he was elected a United States Senator fr 

the unexpired term of James Harlan, ending in l v 

WILLIAM II KOONTZ, a lawyer by profession, was 

from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-ninth Congress He su 
contested the seat taken by Alexander II. Coffroth, and was admit! 
the • the first session. — 508. 

ANDREW J. KUYKENDALL was hum in Illinois, March 3, 1815, 

From ! s 42 to 1846 he was a member of the Illinois 
House of Representatives, and was. from 1850 to 1862, a mi ' the 

- nate. He was Major in the 31st Illinois Infantry, bul 
iint of ill health in the early part of the war. In 1864 he • ■ - ted a 
Representative to Congress from lllinoi 

ADDISON 11 LAFLIN was born in Lee, Massachus - L823 
graduated at Williams" in 1843 He afterward - in Herkimer 

County New York, and became engaged extensively in the manufa 
paper. In 1857 he was elected State Senator. In 1864 he « - 
Re] live to the Thirty-ninth Congress 

HENRY S LANE was born in Kentucky, February 24, ' I having 

studied law, removed to Indiana and practiced his profession In \^"~ he 

to the Indiana Legislature. From 1841 to l x i; be 

in Congress He served in the Mexican war. undei I Taylor, 

lieutenant-colonel of volunteers In l sl >l he was elected governo 

Indiana, but resigned the office two days after his inauguration to accept the 

offii f United States Senator, to which he was elected for the term ending 

in 1867.— 213, 381, 383 199, 5 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 607 

JAMES H. LANK was born i : * Indiana, June 22, 1814. Ee served the 
country as a soldier in the Mexican war. He was Lieutenant-govern 
Indiana in 1849. As a Representative to Congr — from Indiana, be served 
one term, ending in 1855. Having removed to Kansas, be took a prominent 
part in the territorial politics. On the admission of Kansas into the I i 
he was elected a United States Senator, and was subsequently reel 
the term ending in 1871. He committed suicide on the first of July, 
171,201, 279, 284, 457, 569. 

GEORGE R. LATHAM was born in Virginia, in 1832. He taught school 

and studied law. In 1859 he was admitted to the bar. In 1860 h lited 

a campaign paper. In the war he became Colonel of the 2d Virginia u- 
fantry, and was elected a Representative to the Thirty-ninth Congress from 
West Virginia. 

GEORGE V. LAWRENCE was born in Washington County. Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1818. lie received a liberal education and devoted himse 
agricultur.il pursuits. He was first elected to the Legislature in 1844 
served at different times in both houses — in all nine years — part of the time 
Berving as Speaker of the Senate. In 1864 he was elected a Representative 
from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-ninth Congress. — 343. 

WILLIAM LAWRENCE was born in Ohio, June 16, 1819. Having 
graduated at Franklin College, he taught school and studied law. He was 
not only engaged in the practice of his profession, but was. at various 
a newspaper editor, member of both branches of the State Legisl: 
reporter for the Supreme Court, and Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. 
In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-ninth 
gress. — 520. 

FRANCIS C. LeBLONI) was born in Ohio, and became a lawyer in 
1851 and in 1853 he was elected to the State Legislature and served as 
Speaker. In 1862 he was elected a Representative to Congress from Ohio, 
and was reelected in 1864. — 243, 306, 519, 538, 547. 

JOHN W. LEFTWICH has been occupied with mercantile pursuits in 
Tennessee. In 1865 he was elected a Representative from that State to the 
Thirty-ninth Congress, and was admitted to his seat near the (dose of th -' 
session. 

BENJAMIN F. LOAN was born in Kentucky, in 1818. He sett I in 
Missouri in 1838, and became a lawyer by profession. He engaged in the 
military service of the country in the civil war. and became a brigadier- 
general. In March, 1863, he became a member of Congress, and wa- re- 
elected a Representative to the Thirty-ninth Congtf 

JOHN W. LONGYEAR was born in New York, in 1820, and removed to 
Michigan in 1844. lie was admitted to the bar in 1846. I le was a Represent- 
ative from Michigan to the Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses. — 147. 



THE THIRTY-NINTH COJVGRE& 

IV LYN< II a me >rtland, >T:i j - 

wa February 15, 1825. Saving Berved two terms in the State I 

ture, he took his seal in L865 as a Representative in Congress from 
Mai 

- V.MUEL S. MARSHALL was born in Illinois, and educ 
land College, Kentucky. He d< voted himself to the practice of taw in Illinois, 
and wa 1 to the Sta slature in 1846 He ser State Attor- 

. and subsequently as a circuit judge. II" has 1 n a Representative from 

Illinois in the Thirty-fourth, Thirty-fifth, and Thirty-ninth 

[LMAN MARSIXXS having graduated at Da College in 1837, and 

uently practiced Law for several years, was elected to the New Hamp- 
shire Legislature in 1845, where he served four years. In 1859 he was elected 
,-i member of Congress. Soon after the breaking out of the war, b ■ was ap- 
pointed Colonel of the 2d New Hampshire regiment. II" was in several 
battles, and in 1863 wag missioned a brigadier-general. Having retired 

from the army on the fall Richmond, he was elected a member of the 
Thirty-ninth Congress from New Hampshire. 

JAMES M. MAKVIN was born in Saratoga County, New York, in 1 
He i~ proprietor <>l' one •>:' the large hotels of Saratoga. II" was elected to 
the Legislature of New 5Tork in 1846, ami subsequently held the office 
Countj Supervisor. In 1862 lie was elected a member of the Thirty-eighth 
Con - • om New York, and was reelected in 1864. 

HORACE MAYNARD was born in Massachusetts, in 1814. Having 
duated at Amherst College, he emigrated to Tennessee, and became Pro- 
fessor of Mathematics in the University of East Tennessee. Having studied 
law. he was admitted to til" bar in 1844. lie was a Presidential Elector in 
!-•■_'. and was a Representative from Tennessee to the rhirty-fifth, Thirty 
sixth, and Thirty-seventh Congresses For his loyalty he was driven from 
his home ami had hi- | confiscated by the rebels II" was I a 

lie Thirty-nin I ress, and was admitted to his seat near 
dm close of tie' firsl session.— 17, -17-. 506, ~<-~. 

JOSEPH W M'CLURG was born in Missouri, in 1818 !l" Bpent some 
a teacher in Louisiana, and going t<> Texas in 1 > 1 1 . he became a law- 
yer and a clerk of the Circuil Court. In I S 1I li" settled as a merchant in 
Missouri. In the early part of the war he was a colonel in the Union army. 
In 1863 he became a i. mtative in < '.ue.: >-,•--, from Missouri, and again 

in 1 - 

HIRAM M'CULLOUGH, a native of Maryland, was horn in 1813 lie 
mitted to the bar in 1838. from 1845 to L851 he served in the Mary- 
land Scnati II" entered R fi >m Maryland in 



BIOG /.'• / /'// ICAL J.\ 'BEX. 509 

JAMES A. ML'DOUGALL was born at Bethlehem, New York, in 1817. 
He assisted in the survey ol the first railroad ever built in this country. In 
1837 he removed to Illinois and engaged in the practice of law. In 1842 ho 
was chosen Attorney-general of Illinois. In 1849 he originated and accom- 
panied an exploring expedition to the far West. He sunn after emigrated to 
California, and in L850 was elected Attorney-general of that State. He sub- 

[uentlj served a term as a Representative in Congress from California. In 
1861 he was elected a United States Senator for the term ending with the ex- 
tion of the Thirty-ninth Congress.- -137, L63, 277. 287, 432, t61 

WALTER l>. M'INDOE, a native of Scotland, was born in 1819. He 
emigrated to New York City in his fifteenth year, and was a clerk in that 
and afterward in Charleston and St. Louis. He subsequently went to 
Wisconsin and engaged in the lumber business. He served in the Wisconsin 
Legislature for a number of years, and was twice a Presidential Elector. He 
has been a Representative from Wisconsin in the Thirty-seventh, Thirty- 
eighth, and Thirty-ninth Congress - 

SAMUEL M'KEE was '■ m in Kentucky, in 1833. He graduated at the 
Miami University, and afterward at the Cincinnati Law School. He was in 
the Union army, as Captain of the 14th Kentucky Cavalry, from 18G2 to 
1864. He spent fourteen months as a prisoner in Libby Prison. In 1865 
he was elected a Representative from Kentucky to the Thirty-ninth Con- 
fess. — 152, 361, 441 . 

DONALD C. M'RUEll, a native of Maine, was born in 1826, and engaged 
in mercantile pursuits. He emigrated to California, and in 1864 was elected 
a Representative from that State to the Thirty-ninth Congress. 

ULYSSES MERCUR was born in Pennsylvania, August 12. 1818, and 
graduated at Jefferson College in 1842. He was admitted to the bar in 1843, 
and b President Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial District of JVnnsyl- 

•. iii:i in 1861, hut resigned the office on being elected, in 1S64. a member 
of the Thirty-ninth Congress from Pennsylvania. 

GEORGE F. MILLER was born in Pennsylvania, September .7. 1809. He 
studied law, and was admitted to the liar in is:;:;. He took an active inter- 
est in local politics, but frequently declined nominations for county and State 
offices. In 1864 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-ninth Congress 
from Pennsylvania. — 44-J, 510. 

JAMES K. MOORHEAD was born in Pennsylvania, in 1806. He -pent 

outh on a farm and as an apprentice to a tanner. He was a contractor 

ling the Susquehannah branch of the Pennsylvania Canal, on which be 

inated a passenger packet line. In L836 he removed to Pittsburgh, where 

!..■ became president of a company for the improvement of the navigation of 

the Monongahela, and subsequently was president of several telegraph uom- 

[n 1859 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-sixth 
from Pennsylvania, and has been reel Cted m. — 31. 



600 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

KI 'WIN D. MORGAN i in M ill. He w . 

and afterward partner in a who! - in !l 

out. In 1836 hi I in New "> 

mercantile pursuits. In 1849 he wa* i alderman :ity, and 

after was elected ;i member of the State Senate, in which he I two 

1856 I I'll Chairman of the National !.' 

In 1? ' York, i i I 

During his administration, 223,000 tro 
from New York. Governor Morgan was appointed by President 1 

aeral of \\<\ - In 1863 he was elected I nib 

from New York. 

JUSTIN S. MORRILL was born in Vermont, April 14, 1810. His 

life was occupied in mercantile pursuits until 1848, when he turned 
his attention to agriculture. In l s ">4 he wsis elected a Representative 
Vermont to the Thirty-fourth Coi - and held a seat in the House l> 

ve reelections until March, 1867, when he became United : 
tor for tlw term ending in 1873. — IT. 1 

l.o'l' M. MORRILL was born at Belgrade, Maine, in 1815. II. ■ Btudied 
at Waterville I and was admitted to the liar in 1839. In 1854 he wa- 

it member of the M ture, and in 1856 he was President of the 

1 35S he was Governor of Main.', and was twice r 
In 1861 he was elected United States Senator for tin- unexpired term "? 
Vice-President Hamlin. He was subsequently reelected for the term ending 
in 1869.— 204, 108, 185, 489, 530. 

DANIEL MORRIS was born in Seneca County, New York, in 1812. He 

a farmer, taught school for a time, and finally became a lawyer. 

Having been District Attorney tor Yates County and member of the State 

dature, he was in 1862 elected a Representative from New York to the 

Thirty-eighth Coi and in 1864 was reelected. 

SAMUEL W. MOULTON was born in Massachusetts, in 1822, and set! 
in Illinois in 1845. II.' I.e. -aim- a lawyer, and was a member of tin' Illinois 
: dature from I s "*:! to 1859. II.' was for a number of years President 
of the Board of Education of Illinois. In 1865 he entered » i as ■■■. 

atative from Illinois. — 1 19 

LEONARD MYERS was born in Attleborough, Pennsylvania, in 1- 
Having entered the profession of law. an. I settled in Philadelphia, he became 

itor lor two municipal <li>tri.-ts in that city. In 1862 In- was i I 
a. member of the Thirty-eighth Congress, and two years thereafter \\ 
lor a Becond term. 

JAMES W NESM1TH, a native of Main.', was born in 1820. When 

quite young, he removi I to New Hampshire, emigrated to Ohio in 1838, 

equently spi time in Missouri, and finally Bettled in Oregon in 

In is.".:; he was appointed United States Marshal He 



BIOGRAPHICAL IX I) EX. 601 

was subsequently Superintendent of Endian Affairs for Oregon and Wash- 
ington. In 1861 he entered Congress as Senator from Oregon for the term 
ending in 1867. 

WILLIAM A. NEWELL is a native of Ohio, and a graduate of Rutg 
College. Ho studied medicine, and took up his residence in New Jersey. 
He was a member of Congress from that Stare from 1^17 to 1851. In 185(3 
he was elected Governor of New Jersey, and held the office till I860, lie 
was again elected a Representative to Congress in 1864. 

WILLIAM E. NIBLACK was horn in Indiana, in 1822. He was admit- 
ted to the bar in 1843. From 1849 to 1852 lie served in the State Le<'is- 
lature. in 1854 he became a Circuit Judge, and served as sneli lor several 
years. lie was a Representative Iron! Indiana to the Thirty-fifth. Thirty- 
sixth, and Thirty-ninth Congresses. — 5_(j. 



JOHN A. NICHOLSON was horn in Delaware, in 1827. Havin* -radii- 
ated at Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, he studied law, and settled in 
Dover, Delaware. In 1865 he entered Congress as a Representative from 

Delaware. — 

THOMAS E. NOELL was born in Missouri, in 1839. Was admitted to 
the bar at nineteen years of age. In 1862 he was appointed a Captain in 
the 19th regiment of regular United States Infantry. He was. in 1864, 
elected a Representative from Missouri to the Thirty-ninth Congress 

DANIEL S. NORTON* was born at Mount Vemon, Ohio, in 1829. Hav- 
ing been educated at Kenyon he served in the Mexican war. went 
to California, and thence to Nicaragua, returned to Ohio, and finally, in 1855, 
emigrated to Minnesota,. In 1867 he was elected a State Senator, and was 
several times reelected. In 1865 he took his seat as a Senator from Minne- 
sota for the term ending in 1871. 



- 



JAMES W. NYE was born in New York, in 1815, and entered the pro- 
fession of law. In 1861 he was appointed by President Lincoln Governor 

of Nevada Territory. lie held this office until the admission of Nevada into 
the Union, when he was elected a Senator from the new State for the term 
ending in 1871. — 125, l~>7. 

CHARLES O'NEILL was born in Philadelphia, in 1821. Saving gadu- 
ated at Dickinson College, and studied law. he was admitted to the bar in 
1843. lie served five years in the House of Representatives and Senate of 
Pennsylvania. In 1862 he was elected a Representative to the Thirl 

Congress. In 1865 he entered upon his second term in Congr 

GODLO^ E S. OIM'II was born in Pennsylvania, in 1817, and was edu- 
cated at Pennsylvania College. Having adopted the profession of law, he 
located in Indiana. He served -i\ years in the State Senate, and one year 



go: the thirty-ninth congress. 

i i r hi 1862 he wae resentative I ' - from 

Indiana, and was reelected in 1864.— 3 

HALBERT E PAINE was born at Chardon, Ohio, in 1826. Having 
graduated at the Western Reserve College, he studied law and located in 
Cleveland. In l s ~>7 he removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He entered the 
army in 1861 as Colonel of the Itli Wisconsin regiment, and soon rose to the 
rank of Brigadier-general. He lost a leg in June, 1863, at the last assault 
mi Port Hudson. Resigning his commission in 1865, he wa 1 a Rep- 

resentative to the Thirty-ninth Congress from Wisconsin. — 504. 

DAVID T. PATTERSON, a lawyer of Greenville, Tenj - 
years a Circuit Judge, was elected in 186 - to Congress from Ten- 

but was not admitted to his seat until near the close of the firsl 
sion of the Thirty-ninth Congress. — 178 

JAMES W. PATTERSON was born in New Hampshire, in 1823, and 
graduated at Dartmouth College in 1848. In 1 85 1 he was appointed a Pro- 
fessor in Dartmouth College. In l s, '>2 he was elected a Representative to 
Congress from New Hampshire, and was reelected in 1854. 11" was subse- 
quently elected a Senator to Congress for the term ending in l v 7;. 

SIDNEY PERHAM was born at Woodstock. Maine, in 1819. Until his 
thirty-fourth year he was a farmer and teacher. In I s ",.", he was a member 
and Speaker of the Maine Legislature. !!■• subsequently held the "Hi 
County Clerk. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Maine to • 
gress, and was reelected in ! s 'il. 

CHARLES E. PHELPS, a native of Vermont, was born in 1833. Having 

lated at Prii ton College in 1853, he came to the Maryland bar in 

In 1862 he was made Lieutenant-colonel of the 7th Maryland Volun- 
and was discharged, on account of wounds, in 1864. He w is elected a 
Representative from Maryland to the Thirty-ninth Congress. — ! 

FREDERICK A. PIKE was born in Calais. Maim'. Me was for several 
yars a i and once Speaker of the Maim' Legislature. He was a 

iber of the Thirty-seventh, Thirl th, and Thirty-ninth I 

'• 519 

\ PLANTS was Kuril in Pennsylvania, in 1811. He rem< 
re he practiced as a lawyer. From 1858 to 1861 he was a mem- 
Ohio Legislature, In 1864 he was elected a Representative to 

1 38 i'i i ( >hio. — 503, 

LUKE P. POLAND was horn at Westford, Vermont, in 1815. He took 

in th" Senate of the United Stati s at tl pening of the Thirty-ninth 

' 'ess, having 1 n appointed to fill the vacancy occasioned death 

1 ' He was admitted to the bar in 1836, and was ,.], 

is of tip- - Vermont in 1848, which office he 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 60S 

held until his appointmenl to the Senate in L865. At the close of hia S 
torial term, in 1867, he took a seal in the other house of Con as a Rep- 

; esentative from Vermont. — 28, 469. 

SAMUEL C. POMEUOY was born in Massachusetts, in 1816. He was 
elected to the Legislature of Massachusetts in 1852. He aided in organizing 
the New England Emigrant Aid Society in 1854. In the same year lie re- 
moved to Kansas, and became a member of the Territorial Defense Commit- 
tee. In 1861 he was elected United States Senator from Kansas. — 104, 195. 

THEODORE M. POMEROY was born in Cayuga, New York, in 1824. 

He graduated at Hamilton College, and became a lawyer by profession. 

From 1850 to 1856 he was District Attorney for his native county, and in 

1 v ~>7 was a member of the New York Legislature. He has held a seat in 

Congress since 1 36 1 . — 30. 
» 

HIRAM PRICK was born in Pennsylvania, January 10, 1814. He is 
President of the State Bank of Iowa. In 1862 he was elected a Represent- 
ative to Congress from Iowa, and was reelected in 1864. — 30. 

WILLIAM RADFORD was born at Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1814. 
He settled in New York City in 1829, and engaged in mercantile pursuits. 
He was elected a member of Congress in 1862, and again in 1864. 

ALEXANDER RAMSEY was born in Pennsylvania, in 1815. From 
1843 to 1S47 he was a Representative in Congress from Pennsylvania. In 
1 349 he was appointed, by President Taylor, the first Territorial Governor of 
Minnesota, holding the office until 1853. During his term of office, he nego- 
' some important Indian treaties. From 1858 to 1862 he held the office 
of Governor of the State of Minnesota. In 1S6:> he was elected a United 
States Senator from Minnesota for the term ending in 1869. 

SAMUEL J. RANDALL was born in Philadelphia, in 1828. He was for 
many years engaged in mercantile pursuits. He served four years in the 
Philadelphia City Council and one term in the State Senate. In 1862 he 
was elected a Representative to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and in 1864 
reelected as a member of the Thirty-ninth. — 444. 

WILLIAM H. RANDALL was born in Kentucky. Having studied law, 
he was admitl the bar in 1835. Having held the office of Clerk of the 

Circu ! i ra number of years, he was, in 1862, elected a Representa- 

from Kentucky, and was reelected in 18 

HENRY J. RAYMOND was born at Lima, New York, in 1820. !n 1840 
.* the University of Vermont, and soon after went to New York 
City, where, in 1841, he became the managing editor of the "New York Tri- 
bune." 1 [uently became the leading editor of the "New York Courier 
and Enquirer." In 1849 he was elected to the New York Legislature, and 
havii - made Speaker of the House. In 1851 he estab- 



THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGI 

lished the "New York Tin Be was subsequently ant- 

governor of New York, and again a member of the General Ass *ul ly. He 
made his first appearance as a meml I press in 1865. — 155, --'.\. 314, 

372, 140, 512, 524. 

UjEXANDER H RICE was born at N'ewton, M - in 1818, 
traduated at Union College, in 1844, and subsequi d in the 
manufacture of paper. After having been Mayor of Boston b red Con- 
in 1859, as Representative from Massachusetts to the Thirtj 
■ >, and has since retained his seat by successive reel 

JOHN II. RICE was born in Maim-. February 5, 1816. Havii 

sheriff, lumberman, and lawyer, he was el< - Attorney 

of Maine in 1 V -V-'. He held this office until 1861, when i ted a 

Representative in Congress from Maim-. Having been twice ed he 

was a member of the Thirty-ninth Congress 

GEORGE READ RIDDLE was born at Newcastle, Delaware, in 1-17. 
He tu engi ring, and was occupied for some year- nals and rail- 

roads in Delaware and Pennsylvania. He afterward Btudied law and was 
admitted to the Delaware bar in 1848. In L850 he was elected a Repre- 
sentative i" Congress from Delaware, and was reelected in \^'>-. In I8i 
was elected a United States Senator for the term ending in 1869 but died 
in March, l v '''7. 

BURWELL C RITTEB was horn in Kentucky, January 10, 1810. 
has devoted his life to agricultural pursuits. In 1843, and again in I N -">n. he 
was a member of the Stale Legislature. In 1865 he was elected a Repre- 
sentativi Kentucky to the Thirty-ninth Congress. — 149. 

ANDREW J. ROGERS was horn at Hamburg, New Jersey, in 182S. He 
spent his youth as an assistant in a hotel and in a country store. He studied 
law while engaged in school-teaching, and was admitted to the bar in 1852. 
[n L862 he was elected a Representative to Congress from Nevi Jersey, and 
in L864 was reelected a member of the Thirty-ninth Congress —59, 222, 306, 
325, 117. 162, 520 

EDWARD II ROLLINS was horn in New Hampshire, « -3, 1824, 

and was occupied for several years in the business of an apothecary. He 

al limes a member and Speaker of the State Legislature. In I860 

he was elected n Representative to Congress, and was reelected in l v i>i! and 

L864 

E. !!. ROSS was horn in Wisconsin, and commenced life as a printer In 
he removed to Kansas, and was a member of the Constitutional 
vention and the State Legislature. He was in the army during the civil war 

as major of a Kansas regi nt. Ih' subsequently became editor of the 

"Lawrence Tribun In July, 1866, he was appointed a United States 

.lor lor the unexpired term of James H. Lane, deceased. — "'!.".. 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 605 

LEWIS W ROSS was born in New York in 1812, and was removed to 
Illinois when a boy. Having been educated at the Illinois College, be en- 
tered the profession of law. In L840 and 1844 he was a member of the 
State Legislature. In 1862 he was elected a Representative to Con 

from I llinnis. ami was reelected in L864. 

LOVELL H. ROUSSEAU was born in Kentucky, in 1818. Having studied 
law. he removed to Indiana in 1^41. He was three years a meinb 
the Indiana House of Representatives, and three years a member of the State 
Senate. He serve'] as a captain in the Mexican war. and on his returi 
tied in Louisville, Kentucky. In I860 he was elected to the Senate of Ken- 
tucky, but resigned his seat to raise a regiment for the war. In June, 1861, 
he was commissioned a colonel, and in October of that year was appointed 
a brigadii ral. In October, L862, he was appointed a major-general. 

In L865 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-ninth Congress from 
Kentucky. — 151, ~>~2. 

WTLLARD SAULSBURY was horn in Delaware, June 'Jit. 1820, and was 
educated at Dickinson College. He was admitted to the bar in 1845, and 
was appointed Attorney-general of Delaware in 1850. He was elected United 
States Senator in [859, and was subsequently reelected for the term ending 
in L87L— 24, 44 127. 192, 219, 2s7, 306, 405, 496, 534, 548. 

PHILETUS SAWYER is a native of Vermont. He removed to Wiscon- 
sin and engaged in the lumber trade. In 1857 and 1861 he was elected to 
the Wisconsin Legislature. In 1864 he was elected a Representative to 
Congress from Wisconsin. 

ROBERT <\ SCHENCK was horn in Ohio. October 4. L809. Having 
gradu Miami University, lie studied law, and was admitted to the La- 

in 1831. In IS40 and 1842 he was elected to the Ohio Legislature, ami from 
1843 to 1851 he was a Representative in Congress, lie was appointed by 
President Fillmore Minister to Brazil. He gave efficient service to the 
country in the civil war, and reached the rank of Major-general. In L862 
he w ed a Representative to Congress, and was reelected in L864. — 

31, 353, 366, 539, .">37. 

GLENN! W SCHOFIELD was horn in New York. March 11. 1817, and 
graduated at Hamilton College in 1840. Having removed to Pennsylvania, 
he was admitted to the bar in 1843. He was a member of the Pennsylvania 
House of Representatives in 1850 and 1851, and was State Senator from I 85 1 
to L859. He held for a short time the position of Judge of the Eighteenth 
Judicial District of the State. In 1862 he was elected a member of the 
Thirty- Congress, and was reelected in 1864. — 56, 508. 

GEORGE S SHANKLIN, a lawyer by profession, was a Represents 

from Kentucky to the Thirty-ninth Congress. — 151, 44<t. 522. 

SAMUEL SHELLABARGER was horn in Ohio, Decemher In, 1817. 



606 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 

Havh luated at the Miami University in l s 41. h( I in the 

fu 1 85 2 and 1853 he was a member of the 01 io I - - 
He v. sentative from Ohio to the Thirty-seventh Congres 
ted h 231, 238 145, 444, 512, 522 

JOHN SHERMAN was born at Lancaster, Ohio, in 1823, and was admit- 
ted to the bar in 1844. In 1854 he was elected a B 

to the Thirty-fourth Congress, and was subsequently three times reelected. 
< »n the resignation of Senator Chase in 1861, he was elected United ~ 
Senator, and in 18G7 he entered upon I - nd term in the - — 27, 

5, 161, 42 i, 422, 454, 176, 500, 534, 535, 541. 

CHARLES SITGREAVES was bom at Easton Pennsylvania, in IS 
Having embarked in the profession of law, he took up hi* n in N< 

ey, He was successively member of the New Jersey \-- member 

and Pi-esidcnt of the Legislative Council, ami member of the Stati Senate. 
In 1864 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-ninth Congress 

[THAMAR SLOAN vras horn in New York, He devoted himself ( i 
the profession of law. Ho removed to Wisconsin in 1854. in 1862 he was 
ed a Representative to Congress from Wisconsin, and was ei d in 
1864.— 334. 

GREEN (LAV SMITH was horn at Richmond, Kentucky, ifi IS 
graduated at Transylvania College in 1849 He Berved in the Mexican war 
1 lieutenant, and at the breaking out of the rebellion ■•• . mmis- 
sioned to command the 4th Kentucky Cavalry. In l s i>i! he was apj 
brigadier-general, and subsequently reached the rank of major-general. In 
imber, 1st;.;, he resigned Ids military commission to take i as ; <. 

Representative from Kentucky in the Thirty-eighth Congresa He was 

1 a member of the Thirty-ninth Congress, but before tl ration "!' 

his term In- was appointed by the President Governor of ;!•■■ Tei 
Montana. — I 

Kill S P. SPALDING was born in Massachusetts, May 3, 1798. lie 
graduated at Vale College in 1817 lie removed to Ohio, and commenc< 1 
the practice of law in 1821. In 1839 and 1841 he was a mei '.'the 

Ohio Legislature, and during the last term was Speaker. He held l 
tion <>f Judge of the Superior Court lor three years. In 1 Bl i2 he '.\ is eli I 
a Representative to Congress from Ohio, and was reelected in 1864. — 319, 
443, 508. 

WILLIAM SPRAGUE was horn in 1830. Having studied for a tin 
Irving Institute, he spent several years in the counting-room of his uncle, 
upon who-.' death fie came into , ion of one of the largest manufactur- 

ing interests in the country. He was elected Governor of Rhode Island in 
1861. t'u the breaking out of the rebellion, he led the volunteers of Rhode 

Island into the Bervice of the country, and wa- with them at the fir-: battle 

of Bull Run. In 1862 he was elected United State- Senator for the term 
ending 1869.— 27, 4'J4. 



BIO a R, 1 / 7/ K'.IL INDEX '. 6 7 

JOHN P. STARR was born in Philadelphia, in 1818. He removed to 
New Jersey in 1844 and engaged in manufactures, hi 1863 he was eli 
a Representative to Congress from New Jersey, and entered upon hi 
term in 1865. 

THADDEUS STEVENS was born in Vermont, April 4, IT.':;. He grad- 
uated at Dartmouth College in 1814, and immediately removed to Peni 
vania, where he taughl In an academy and al the same time studied law. 
He was a member of the Stale Legislature at various dates between I s :;:; 
and isli!. In 1836 he was a member of the Convention to revise the Con- 
stitution of the State. In I s (s j u . was elected a Representative to I 
from Pennsylvania, and was i id in 1850. After an interval of a few 

years, he was, in 1858, reelected to the Thirty-sixth Congress, and has since 
by successive reelections, held a seat in the House of Representatives. — 18, 
24, 29, 34, 48, 156, 308, 325, 357, 366, 417. 418, 4:;."., 436, 449, 4G3, 178, 5 12, 
513, 514, 518, 528, 536, "<17. 555, 563, 575 

WILLIAM M. STEWART was born in New York, August 9, 1827. 
Having spent a few months as a student at Yale College, he left for Cali- 
fornia. There he studied law, and finally settled in the Territory of Utah 
(now Nevada). He was a member of the Territorial Legislature in 1861, 

and of tin- ('(institutional Convention in 1863. In 1865 he entered the United 
States Senate from Nevada for the term ending in 1869. — 100, 107, 275, 427, 
435, 454. 459, 7730. 

THOMAS N. STILWELL was born in Ohio. August 29, 1830. lie studied 
at Oxford and College Hill. Ohio. Having removed to Indiana in L852, 
lie was admitted to the bar. In 1856 he was a member of the State Legis- 
lature, and subsequently engaged in banking. In 1864 he was eleel 
Representative to the Thirty-ninth Congress from Indiana. 

JOHN P. STOCKTON was horn in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1825. He 

graduated at Princeton College in 1843, and entered upon the practii I 

law in 1846. In 1858 he was appointed by President Buchanan Min 
Resident to Rome. At tie' opening of the Thirty-ninth Congress he appeared 
as Senator from New Jersey. The question of his fight to the seat ui 
went long discussion, and at length was decided against him on tie' 27th of 
March, 1866.— 568. 

WILLIAM B. STOKES was horn in North Carolina. September 9, 1814. 
Removing to Tennessee, he engaged in agricultural pursuits. 1 1 
three terms in the Tennessee Legislature, and was a Representative from 
Tennessee to the Thirty-sixth Congress. He served as a colonel in the Union 
army during the civil war. Jn L865 he was elected a Representative ;■• the 
Thirty-ninth Congress. — 180, 536. 

MYER STROUSE was born in Germany, December 16, 1825. He came 

with his father to America in 1832, and settled in Pennsylvania. He studied 
law, but devoted himself for a time to editing the " North American Farmer, 



60 THE THIRTT-JfljYTR CONGRE& 

in Philadelphia, after which he engaged a. -lively in the practii 1' bis pro- 

.;,,,, in 1862 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-eighth Con- 
gress, and was reelected in L864. 

CHARLES SUMNER was born in Boston, January 6, 1811. He gradu- 
Harvard College in 1830, and was admitted to the bar in 1834. He 
i much tiin rarv labors, having edit ral volumes of 

and published two volumes of orations, which appeared in L850. 
!u 18)1 he wm I a United States Senator. In 1856 he was assaul 

in ihamber by Preston S. Brooks, a Representative from South 

Car - sriously injured that he sought restoration by a temporary 

in Europe. He was twice reelected to the Senate. lli< third term 
. - n-vicc will close in 1869. — 15, 26, 99, 373, 374, 380 
153, IS3, I 1 .'.*. 540, 541, 571. 

STEPHEN TABER, whose father was a member of Congress in L828, was 
born in Dutchess County, New York, and settled as a farmer on Long [aland 
in L839. Having been twice a member of the State Legislature, he took his 
seat in 1865 in the Thirty-ninth Congress. 

NATHANIEL G. TAYLOR was born in Tennessee December 29, 1819, 
and graduated at Princeton College in 1840. He was adm i the bar in 

1843. In 1854 lie was a Representative in Congress. He has been a minis- 
ter iu the Methodist Episcopal Church South. In 1865 he was elected a Rep- 
resentative tn the Thirty-ninth Congress from Tennessi 

NELSON TAYLOR was born in Connecticut, in L821, and embarked in 
the profession of law. He served in the Mexican war as captain of a com- 
pany of New York Volunteers, lie subsequently went to < lalifornia, and was 
: a member of the State Senate in 1849. He served as Sheriff of San 
Joaquin County, California, in 1853. He went into the war of 1861 as 
Colonel of the 72d regiment of New York Volunteers, and was soon pro- 
moted to the rank of Brigadier-general. At the close of his military Bervice. 
lie took his seal as a Representative from New York in the Thirty-ninth 
i - . — 1 45. 

M. RUSSELL THAYER was born in Petersburg, Virginia, in 1819 
il raduated at the University of Pennsylvania, he studied law, and was 

a, i i the bar in IS42. In 1862 he was elected a Representative to the 

Thirty-eighth Congress from Pennsylvania, and was reelected in 1864. — 83, 
.22. 

FRANCIS THOM V.S was born in Maryland, February 3, 1799. He was 
admitted to the bar in 18*2 m 1822 to 1829 he was three times a mem- 

ber and oi iker of the Maryland House of Delegates. From 1831 to 

1841 he was a Re itive in Congress from Maryland. From 1841 to 

1844 h Maryland. In I860 he was elected for the sixth 

ma Representative I C ogress, and was reelected in L862 and 1864 



BIOGRAPHICAL I. YD EX. 600 

JOHN L. THOMAS, Jr., was born in Baltimore, May 20, 1835. He was 
admitted to the bar La 1856. In 1863 lie was elected State Attorney for 
Maryland. In 1865 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-ninth 
Congress from Maryland to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of E. II. 
Webster. 

ANTHONY THORNTON was bom in Kentucky, November 9, 1814. 
Having graduated at the Miami University, he studied law and removed to 
Illinois. In 1847 he was a member of the Convention which framed the 
Constitution, and in 1862 was in the Convention to revise the State Constitu- 
tion. Having previously served in the State Legislature, he was elected a 
Representative to the Thirty-ninth Congress from Illinois. — 228. 

LAWRENCE S. TRIMBLE was born in Kentucky, in 1825. He is a 
lawyer by profession. In 1851 and 1852 he was a member of the Kentucky 
Legislature. He was four years a Judge of the Equity and Criminal Court. 
From I860 to 1865 he was President of the New Orleans and Ohio Rail- 
road Company. He was elected a Representative from Kentucky to the 
Thirty-ninth Congress.— 152, 342, 511. 

LYMAN TRUMBULL was born in Connecticut, in 1813. Having en- 
gaged in the profession of law, he removed to Illinois, and was, in 1840, 
elected to the Legislature of that State. In 1841 he was elected Secretary 
of State. From 1848 to 1853 he' was Justice of the Supreme Court of Illi- 
nois. He was a Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-fourth Congress. 
In 1855 he entered the United States Senate from Illinois. He was reelected 
in 1861 and again in 1867.— 22, 28, 45, 98, 104, 105, 108, 120, 136, 158, 162, 
171, 188, 190, 199, 209, 216, 253, 269, 424, 457, 476, 540. 

ROWLAND E. TROWBRIDGE was born at Elmira, New York, in 1821. 
He graduated at Kenyon College, Ohio, in 1841, and devoted himself to 
farming in Michigan. In 1856 and 1858 he was a member of the Michigan 
Senate. In 1860 he was elected a Representative from Michigan to the 
Thirty-seventh Congress, and was reelected in 1864. 

CHARLES UPSON was born in Connecticut, March 19, 1821. Having 
removed to Michigan he was admitted to the bar in 1847. He was a Staff 
Senator in 1855 and 1856, and held the office of Attorney-general for Michi- 
gan in 1861 and 1862. In the latter year he was elected a Representative 
to Congress from Michigan, and was reelected in 1864. 

HENRY VAN AERNAM was born at Marcellus, New York, in 1819. 
Having graduated at a medical college, he practiced as a physician and sur- 
geon In 1858 he was a member of the State Legislature. In 1862 he en- 
tered the army as surgeon of the 154th New York regiment. He resigned 
this position in 1864, and was elected a Representative from New York to 
the Thirty-ninth Congress. 
39 



610 THE THIRT) -.V/.V77/ CONGRESS. 

BURT NAN BORN was born in Niagara County, New York, in 1823, 
and was educated at Madison University. Having been three times a mem- 
ber of the State Legislature, be w a elected a Representative from New York 
to the Thirty-seventh Congress In 1865 he was returned as member of the 
Thirty-ninth ( as. — s 7. 527. 

ROBERT T VAN HORN was born in Pennsylvania, in L824, and ap- 
plied himself to the business of a printer. Having removed West. he be 
Mayor and Postmaster of Kansas City, Missouri. He served in th<^ Union 
army, during the civil war. as a lieutenant-colonel. Il>' was three years a 
member of the Missouri Senate. In 1865 he became a Representative in the 
Thirty-ninth I from Missouri 

PETER <;. VAN WINKLE was bora in the city of New Vork, in 1808 
He removed to Parkersburg, Virginia, in 1835. He was a member of the 
Virginia Constitutional Convention in 1850, and of the Wheeling Convention 
in L861. He aided in forming the Constitution of West Virginia in 1862 
He became a member of the Legislature of that State at it- organization, 
and, in November, 1863, he was elected a United States Senator from W< -: 
Virginia fur the term ending in 1869. — 194. 

DANIEL W. VOORHEES was born in Indiana. September 26, 1828. 
He graduated at the Indiana Asbury University in 1849, and commi 
the practice of law in 1851. II- held the*office of United States Dia 
Attorney for three years, by appointment of President Buchanan. In 
he was elected a Representative to Congress from Indiana, and reelected in 
1862 He appeared, in December, 1865, as a member of the Thirty-ninth 
< . repress, but remained only a short time, his seat having been successfully 
contested by Henry D. Washburn.— 568. 

BENJAMIN P. WADE was bora in Massachusetts, October, 27, 1800 

Having removed to Ohio, he was admitted to the bar in l N i> He held sue- 
vely the positions of Justice of the Peace, Prosecuting Attorney, State 
Senator, and Circuit Judge. In 1851 he was elected a United State- Senator 
from Ohio, and lias been twice reelected, his third term ending in 1869. 
Q March, l v ''>7. he was elected President pro * mp ■ of the Senate and 
acting Vice-President of the United States.— 15, 50, 276, 283, 428, 4o4, 
•177. 190 

ANDREW II WARD is a lawyer by profession, and is Represent- 
ative from the Sixth District of Kentucky to the Thirty-ninth Congress 
509. 

HAMILTON WARD was bora in Salisbury, New York, in 1829. He 

studied law and settled at Belmont He was twice elected District Attorney 

for Allegheny County. In 1864 ho was elected a member of the Thirty- 
ninth Congress. — 306. 



BIOGR.J I'll I CI L INDEX. 611 

SAMUEL L. WARNER was born in Connecticut, in 1829. Ihivinir pur- 
sued a course of study at the Yale and Harvard Law Schools, Ik- was ad- 
mitted e bar in 1853. Having served as member of the Connecticut 
Legislature and Mayor of Middletown, he was. in 1865, elected a member to 
I hirty-ninth Congress. — 507. 

KLIIIL B. WASHBURNE was lion, in Mainr. September 2:;. L816. Hav- 

studied law in Harvard University, he located at Galena, Illinois. In 

1852 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-third Congress, and has 

been reelected to each succeeding Congress. In the Thirty-ninth Congress 

he was the oldest member of the House in continuous service. — 30. 

HENRY D. WASHB1 RN was born in Vermont, in 1832. lie graduated 
at the New York State ami National Law School in 1853, and settled in Indi- 
ana, lie was soon after elected Auditor of Vermillion County, which position 
he held until the breaking out of the rebellion, when he raised a company 
for the service and was promoted to the command, as Colonel, of the ImIi In- 
diana regiment. He contested the seat in the Thirty ninth Congress held by 
D. W. Voorhees, and was declared by the Committee on Elections to be en- 
title! to the place. — 568. 

WILLIAM B. WASHBURN was horn in Massachusetts, in 1S20. He 
graduated at Yale College in 1S44. and subsequently devoted himself to man- 
ufacturing. In 1850 he was elected to the State Senate, and to the Lower 
House in 1854. In 1862 he was elected a Representative to Congress from 
Massachusetts, and was reelected in 1864 to the Thirty-ninth Congress. 

MARTIN WELKER was horn in Ohio, in 1819. He was admitted to the 
bar in L840. He served successively as Clerk and Judge of the Court of Com- 
mon Pleas, in 1857 he was elected Lieutenant-governor of Ohio. In 1864 
he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-ninth Congress from Ohio. 

JOHN WENTWOTH was born in New Hampshire, in 1815. He gradu- 
ated at Dartmouth College, and in 1836 he settled in Chicago, Illinois. Ho 
conducted the '"Chicago Democrat," as editor and proprietor, for twenty-five 
years. In 1842 he was elected a Representative to Congress from Illinois, 
and was subsequently a member of the Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, Thirty-first, 
and Thirty-second Congresses. After a considerable interval he was, in 1864, 
elected for the sixth term a Representative to Congress from Illinois. — 18, 
556, 557. 

EELLIAN V. WHALEY was horn in New York, in 1821. When 

twenty-one years old he settled in Western Virginia, and devoted himself to 
the lumber and mercantile business, lie has been a member of the Thirty- 
seventh, Thirty-eighth, and Thirty-ninth Congresses from West Virginia. 

WATTMAN T. W1LLEY was born in Virginia, October 18, 1811. He 
graduated at Madison College in 1831, and came to the bar in 1833. He 
was for fourteen years clerk of county and circuit courts. He was a mem- 



em the thirtt-xixth coxa a ess. 

of the Convent I ■ amend the Constitution of Virginia in 1850. In 
rinter of 1860-61 waa a Delegate to the Richmond Convention. In 
I $61 he was elected a < ruted States Senator by the Legislature of West Vir 
rrinia. In 1864 he was reelected to the United States Senate for the ter 

« 

ending in 1*71.-458, lv",. [~<\ 

GEORGE II WILLIAM- was born in New Fork, in 1823. Saving been 
admitted to the bar, be emigrated to Iowa in 1844. He was Boon alter el< 
Judge of the First Judicial District of that State In L853 he was appointed 
by President Pierce Chief-Justice of the Territory of Oregon, and was re- 
appointed by President Buchanan in 1857. He was elected United States 
Senator from Oregon for the term commencing in 1865 ami ending in 1*71. — 
393, 488, 528, 539, 540, 559. 

THOMAS WILLIAMS was horn in Pennsylvania. August 28, 1806. He 
graduated at Dickinson College in L825. Having studied law, be settled in 
Pittsburgh. In 1838, and thereafter, he was a member of the State Legis- 
lature for four successive terms. In I860 he was again in the Legislature. 
In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty- 
eighth Congress, and was reelected in 1864. 

HENRY WILSON' was born February 16, 1812, in New Hampshire. 
When twenty-one years old he went to Natick, Massachusetts, where he 
learned the art of shoemaking. In 1840 he was elected to the Legislature, 
serving four years in the Lower House and four years in the Senate, over 
which he presided two years. In l v ">"> he was elected United States Senator 
to succeed I'M ward Everett, and reelected in 1859. In W>1 he raised the 
22d Massachusetts regiment, of which he became Colonel, lie served on 
General McClellan's stall' until the meeting of Congress in December. During 
the war he occupied the arduous and responsible position of Chairman of the 
Committee of Military Affairs. At the opening of the Thirty-ninth Congress 
he entered upon his third Senatorial term, which will expire in 1871. — 15, 
95, 97, 101, 135, 213, 402, 410, 437, 435, 487, 591, 198, 532. 

JAMES F WILSON' was born at Newark. Ohio, in L828. lie removed 
to Iowa in 1853. In 1856 he was a member of the State Constitutional 
Convention. In 1857 he was elected to the State Legislature, and in 1859 
to the State Senate. In 1861 he was President of the Senate, and was 
elected a Representative to the Thirty-seventh Congress for an unexpired 
term, lie was reelected in 1862 and in 1864.-31,51, 220, 239, 288, 325, 536. 

STEPHEN F. WILSON was born at Columbia, Pennsylvania. September 

4, 1821. He received his education at Wellsboro Academy, where he subse- 
quently engaged for a short time in teaching. He finally became a lawyer, 
and was, in 1863, elected a State Senator; in 1864, chosen a Representative 
•in Pennsylvania to the Thirty-ninth Congress 

WILLIAM WTNDOM was born in Ohio, in 1827. He was admitted to 
the bar in 1850, and two years after removed to Minnesota. He wa# elected 



BIOGRAPHICAL LVD EX. 613 

a Representative from Minnesota to the Thirty-sixth Congress, and has been 
reelected to each succeeding Congress. — 229. 

CHARLES II. WIN! 'I Kid) was born in Orange County, New York, in 
L822. Be studied law. and was admitted to the bar in 1846. From 1850 
to 1856 he was District Attorney for Orange County. He was elected a 
Representative to the Thirty-eighth Congress from New York, and was, in 
1864, reelected for a second term. — 20, 515. 

FREDERICK E. WOODBRIDGE was born in Vermont, August 29, 1818. 
He graduated at the University of Vermont in 1840, and was admitted to 
the bar in 1S42. Having served five years in the State Legislature and 
three years as State Auditor, he was, in 1863, elected a Representative to 
Congress from Vermont, and entered upon his second Congressional term in 
1865. 

EDWIN R. V. WRIGHT was born at Hoboken, New Jersey, in IS 12, 
learned the trade of a printer, and in 1835 edited and published the "Jersey 
Blue." He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1839. He was 
elected to the State Senate in 1843. He subsequently held for five years the 
office of District Attorney for Hudson County. In 1859 he was the Demo- 
cratic Candidate for Governor of New Jersey, and was defeated by a small 
majority, lie was elected a Representative from New Jersey to the Thirty- 
ninth Congress. — 363. 

WILLIAM W r RIGHT was born in Rockland County, New York, in 1791. 
In 1X23 he removed to Newark, New Jersey, and held the office of Mayor 
of that city for a number of years. He was a Representative in Congress 
four years, commencing in 1843. In 1853 he was elected United States 
Senator for the term ending in 1S59. In 1863 he was again elected to the 
Senate for the term ending in 1869. He died before the expiration of the 
term for which he was elected. 

RICHARD YATES was born in Kentucky, in 1818. Having removed to 
Illinois, he graduated at Illinois College, and entered the profession of law. 
After having repeatedly served in the State Legislature, he was a Represent- 
ative in Congress from 1851 to 1855. In 1861 he was elected Governor of 
Illinois for four years, and gave most efficient service to th^country in rais- 
ing troops for the army during the civil war. lie was electeoa United States 
Senator from Illinois for the term commencing in 1865, and ending in 1871. — 
398, 461, 484, 491. 



3S* A. V I 1ST ~* S 

VETERINARY PRACTICE, 

OR 

EXPLANATORY HORSE DOCTOR. 

Written in Plain and Common Language, for the Use ox" the Farmer 

Breeder, or Owner of the Eorse, to enable him to Treat 

Correctly and Successfully, all the Diseases to 

which the Horc-o i3 Liable. 



COPIOUSLY ILLUSTRATED BY CUTS AM) ENGRAYO 

EY JOHN NICHOLSON NAVIN. 

VETERINARY SURGEON. 



The Reasons why every Horse Owner should have the Explanatory Horse Doctor arc: 

1st. B cause with it the life or limb of a valuable animal save 1. 

•j,l ! . ■ o reads can consult it at any moment, and apply or ad- 

lay. 
k tinic can be s ived, as without it, the horse may die with some 
aeu ,.. t0 r could 1>" brought from some distant town or city. 

■ r can afford t.> buy it. and cannot ;o he 

m for one day would he i 
men forty times its c »st in n 
- ih the work, and get the very b 
the price of the ach call, to procure the services of a 

. may be unskillful, with little or no experience. 
the horse, (like man | is subject - services of a 

procured in many localities, only at t time 

\\\ w j that all discuses of the horse should be treated at the ear!:- 

; .,,.,. the I y of a reliable work, that can be consulted 

W!l ,, 

! : I i« to select, or purchase, the most hardy, kind and durable 

ling, &c. 

1 ti aches how to tell the acre of the horse, so that a boy twelve years old may 

not be deceived. % 

ILLUSTRATED BY A SERIES OF BEAUTIFUL CUTS OF THE TEETH AS THEY APPEAR AT DIFFERENT ACES. 
It ia the only work on the subject adapted to the understanding of the public 
ral. 

only by subscription, through our duly appointed agents, at $3.o0 in cloth 
binding, and > iii library binding. 

EXTRA INDUCEMENTS OFFERED TO GOOD AGENTS. 
Address, for full particulars, 

ROACn & T1TISTLETHWAITE, 

Publishers, Indianapolis, Ind. 



LBJa'" 



uo 






BRARY OF CONGRESS 




